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BRAH  M  AD  ARSANAM 


•Thg^yb^o 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NBW  YORK    -    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA   •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •  BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


SRI   ANANDA  ACHARYA 


BRAHMADARSANAM 

OR 

INTUITION    OF    THE    ABSOLUTE 

BEING   AN   INTRODUCTION   TO   THE 
STUDY   OF   HINDU   PHILOSOPHY 

BY 

SRI   ANANDA   ACHARYA 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1917 

All  rigAU  rittfyn4 


OorvmcHT,  X917, 
By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


S«t  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  September,  X9X7. 


Notbiaoti  i9»S0 

J.  B.  Cashing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Korwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


S)e&icate& 

to  mt  friends  and  pupils 
in  nobwat. 

Ananda. 


PREFACE 

These  lectures  were  delivered  in  Christiania 
during  the  early  spring  of  1915.  My  aim  was 
to  present  Hindu  ways  of  looking  at  the  eternal 
verities  of  life  in  simple  language  before  the 
mind  of  the  Norwegian  public,  with  whose 
points  of  view,  however,  I  was  as  utterly  un- 
familiar as  they  were  with  mine.  In  this  rather 
ventiu*esome  undertaking,  I  was  encouraged  to 
persevere  through  an  inner  conviction  of  the 
uniformity,  amidst  a  diversity  of  forms,  of  the 
philosophical  experiences  of  humanity  all  the 
world  over.  At  the  same  time  I  am  persuaded, 
through  a  constant  watching  of  the  growth  of 
the  deeper  life  of  students  of  many  nationalities, 
both  in  the  East  and  in  the  West,  that  the 
most  efficient  way  of  helping  the  student  of 
soul-philosophy  is  not  to  give  him  any  so-called 
academic  philosophy  at  all,  but  to  confer  upon 
him  the  privilege  of  a  free  hand,  and  allow  him, 
as  it  were  in  his  own  right,  to  bring  out  to  his 
own  introspection,  and  shape  and  mould,  all 
the  hidden  forces  of  logic  and  light  that  lie 
dormant  in  his  own  higher  nature,  needing  no 


viii  BRAHMAD  ARSAN  AM 

interference  or  compulsion  from  without,  but 
only  a  favourable  spiritual  and  ethical  stimulus, 
in  the  shape  of  affinity  or  real  friendship  with 
the  impersonal  individuality  of  a  living,  histori- 
cal, and  rational  culture. 

To  require  of  the  student  that  he  should 
swallow  the  pills  of  metaphysical  theory  and 
theological  dogma,  without  protest,  were  no 
better  than  to  pour  concentrated  carbolic  or 
sulphuric  acid  on  the  skin  and  then  to  expect 
the  unfortunate  victim  to  keep  quiet ! 

These  lectures  were  given  under  the  inspira- 
tion of  such  beliefs,  formed  partly  from  personal 
experience  in  teaching,  and  partly  derived  from 
the  wisdom  of  our  Hindu  Rishis  and  Gurus. 
Intended  especially  for  beginners,  and  delivered 
ex  tempore,  they  do  not  claim  to  be  a  systematic 
treatise;  they  will  serve  their  purpose  if  they 
succeed  in  persuading  the  reader  that  he  and  I 
are  of  one  blood  and  one  life. 

Let  me  add  that  my  sincere  thanks  are  due 
to  Miss  Hermione  Ramsden,  without  whose 
whole-hearted  assistance  these  lectures  would 
never  have  been  written  down. 

ANANDA. 

NoBWAT.  Jtily  9,  1916. 


CONTENTS 


FIRST  LECTURE 

PAoa 
General  View-Points  of  Ancient  Indian  Philosophebs         1 

The  meaning  of  the  word  Darsana  —  The  six  systems 
of  Indian  philosophy  —  The  Buddha's  teaching  re- 
garding Nirvana  —  European  chronology  —  Contrast 
between  Indian  and  European  philosophers. 


SECOND  LECTURE 

Dualism:  Matteb  and  Spibit 21 

Kapila's  early  training  —  His  philosophy  and  ethics  — 
Three  sources  of  knowledge  —  Evolution  of  the 
universe  —  Nature  of  the  soul :  its  bondage  and  sal- 
vation. 


THIRD  LECTURE 

Theism:  God  and  Man 40 

Controversy  between  science  and  religion  —  Truth  is 
one  —  Arguments  in  favour  of  theism  by  Gotama, 
Patanjali,  NSrada  and  Sankara  —  The  trend  of 
science  towards  monism  —  Hymn  from  the  Rig  Veda 
—  Agreement  between  modem  science  and  the 
Vedas. 

is 


X  BRAHMADARSANAM 

FOURTH  LECTURE 

rxoa 
Momum:  Man  ab  Aspect  of  the  Divine      ...        70 

Aspects  of  consciousness  —  Religious  systems  without 
a  God — Philosophy  of  relation-r-Rftmanuja's  qualified 
monism. 

FIFTH  LECTURE 

Monism:  The  Absolute  and  the  Cosmos     .        .        .      104 

Psychological  foundation  of  Advaita  philosophy  of 
Sankara  —  State  of  subconsciousness  —  Progressive 
Yoga  life  —  Turiya  and  Samvit  —  AvidyS,  the  doc- 
trine of  error  —  Discipleship. 


SIXTH  LECTURE 

Monism  :  Realisation  op  the  Absolute  Truth  of  Life      185 

The  constituents  of  the  universe  —  Composition  of 
the  spirit,  the  soul,  and  the  body  —  The  six  circles  — 
The  meaning  of  M&yS  —  Man's  freedom  —  Samkhya 
veratu  VedSnta  —  Consciousness  identical  with  reality. 


Appendix 173 

General  Bibliographt 193 

Index  of  Sanscrit  Terms 107 


FRONTISPIECE 

Portrait  of  Sri  Ananda  Acharta 

From  an  oil  painting  by  Miss  Adele  Fairholme 


KAPILA'S  THEORY  OF  THE  COSMIC 
EVOLUTION 


Ptee  Sonl»  (PnnuhatX 
0  0       0 

0        0 


The  Utunaiitfested  Cftvyakta) 


Tbe  great  Mairifesttttfltt 


Evolntlon  «f  the  BgD 


•S  .=  •£  n  e 

u   Qi  a>  *•  13 

«>  «  E  S  O 

ti  tt  u  tS  u 

a  h  S  ju  o 

4m    IM   «M   Wm    ««• 

o  o  o  o  o 

P   73    *<    4^  .*>  4->    4-> 

s  £  e  e  e  e  e 
.  toBvvvvv 
0<HH(/)UOOUO 

OOOOOOOOOO 


I 

K) 
> 

s 


Radicle  or  SabtQ» 
Elements 

Radicle  Ether 

-       Heat 
Gas 
UqoM 

.       SoCd 


Intellect 


e    e 

5  tS   >» 

a  a  a.  c6 


The  Five  Pranas 
(Vital  centres) 

0   0  0  0  0 


Elements 

Ether 

Heat 

Gas 

Liqaid 

SoUd 


Tbe  Mind  and  Body  of  «B 
Living  Creatnres. 


KAPILA'S  THEORY  OF  THE  COSMIC  EVOLU- 
TION ACCORDING  TO  VYASA'S  COM- 
MENTARY 

The  Unknowable. 
Cosmic  substance. 

L 


Subject  series. 

Mind,  brain,  perceptive  and 
active  functional  centres. 

I 


Object  series. 

Atoms,  electrons, 
molecules. 


Individual  substances  subject  to  the  law  of  evolution. 

I      . 
Inorganic  and  organic  substances : 
Vegetable  and  animal  organisms. 

The  Twentt-Five  PRiNaPLEs  of  Samkhta. 

1.   Purushas  2.   Prakriti  (the  unmanifested). 

(souls).  8.   Mahat  (the  great  reason). 

4.  Ahamkar  (the  ego). 
6-9.   The  Tanmatras  (the  subtile  elements). 
10-14.  The  Buddhindriyas  (the  faculties  of  know- 
ledge). 
15-19.   The  Karmendriyas  (the  faculties  of  action). 

20.   Mind. 
21-25.  The  Maha-Bhutas  (the  gross  elements). 


Tanmatras.  Buddhindritas. 

1.   Sound  medium    Hearing  (in  the  ear) 


2.  Touch 

3.  Colour 

4.  Savour 

5.  Odour 


Touching  (in  the  skin) 
Seeing  (in  the  eye) 
Tasting  (in  tongue) 
Smelling  (in  the  nose) 

Maha-Bhutas. 

Ether. 
Gas  (air). 
Heat— light. 
Liquid  (water). 
Solid  (earth). 


Karmendriyas. 

Speaking      (in     the 

tongue). 
Grasping  (in  hands). 
Moving  (in  feet). 
Secretion. 
Generation. 


GENERAL  VIEW-POINTS  OF  ANCIENT 
INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS 

The  meaning  of  the  word  Darsana  —  The  six  systems  of  Indian 
philosophy  —  The  Buddha's  teaching  regarding  NirvSna  — 
European  chronology  —  Contrast  between  Indian  and 
European  philosophers. 

India  has  been  justly  regarded  as  the  home 
of  philosophy  and  religion.  From  the  earliest 
times  Indian  thinkers  have  felt  the  necessity 
of  basing  religion  upon  philosophy,  and  of 
building  society  upon  religion.  In  order  to 
illustrate  the  fact  that  philosophy  has  been  the 
dominant  factor  in  the  history  of  India,  I  will 
begin  by  telling  you  a  little  fairy  tale. 

There  was  once  an  Indian  prince  who  was 
wandering  among  the  mountains  when  he  met 
a  great  sage,  who  told  him  that  he  would  have 
to  pass  through  many  misfortunes  and  would 
suflFer  much  trouble  in  the  future.  The  prince 
asked  the  sage  if  he  could  not  help  him  so  that 
he  might  be  spared  these  terrible  misfortunes, 
whereupon  the  sage  gave  him  three  things :  a 
milk-white  leaf,  a  silver-white  bee,  and  a  bee 


2  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

of  golden  hue,  and  told  him  that  as  long  as  he 
kept  these  three  together  in  a  safe  place,  he 
would  be  preserved  from  all  danger.  The  prince 
took  the  three  gifts  to  his  mother  and  explained 
to  her  their  magic  properties,  whereupon  she 
caused  a  room  to  be  built  of  stone  under  a  lake, 
and  there  in  a  steel  box  she  placed  the  three 
treasures. 

In  the  course  of  time  the  sage's  words  were 
fulfilled,  and  although  the  prince  passed  through 
many  dangers,  his  life  was  preserved. 

It  is  in  the  same  way  that  the  life  of  the 
Hindus  is  preserved  through  the  possession  of 
three  things :  philosophy,  morality,  and  religion. 
The  milk-white  leaf  represents  morality,  the 
silver-white  bee  stands  for  religion,  and  the 
bee  of  golden  hue  symbolises  philosophy.  All 
through  the  history  of  India  we  find  that  these 
three  have  been  regarded  as  sacred  and  treas- 
ured as  the  precious  talisman  that  was  to  pre- 
serve the  nation  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of 
its  history. 

As  you  all  know,  India  has  passed  through 
many  changes  during  the  last  few  centuries, 
but  there  are  probably  no  people  in  the  world 
who  had  been  subjected  to  so  much  pressure 
from  outside,  and  have  yet  managed  to  escape 
from  the  degenerate  influence  which  is  usually 
the  result  of  contact  with  less  civilised  races.^ 
Thus  we  see  that  the  ideals  of  a  holy  life  have 
been  preserved  in  spite  of  the  absence  of  a 

^  See  Appendix. 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS   3 

national  government  to  safeguard  the  essentials 
of  Hindu  life  and  religion. 

Far  away  from  the  sun-baked  plains,  the 
busy  towns,  and  quiet  villages,  there  lived  a 
brotherhood  of  teachers  who  matured  their 
philosophy  in  the  solitude  of  the  mountains  and 
in  the  depths  of  the  forests  for  the  purpose  of 
guiding  humanity.  These  teachers,  who  were 
known  by  the  name  of  Sannyasins,  were,  and 
still  are,  the  real  legislators,  governors,  and 
guides  of  the  Indian  people.  These  Sannyasins, 
trained  in  the  science  of  self-knowledge  and  self- 
control,  and  renouncing  the  ordinary  pursuits 
of  life,  wander  all  over  the  country,  live  among 
the  people,  and  teach  them  to  live  the  life  of 
righteousness. 

It  would  take  too  long  to  give  an  exhaustive 
account  of  the  influence  exerted  by  Indian 
philosophy  on  Indian  life ;  I  will  only  touch  on 
a  few  points.  To  begin  with,  it  is  extremely 
important  that  I  should  explain  the  meaning 
of  some  technical  terms  of  philosophy  for  which 
there  are  no  English  words  which  exactly  corre- 
spond. 

The  word  "Darsana"  is  generally  used  as 
synonymous  with  "philosophy,'*  and  is  derived 
from  the  Sanscrit  root  dris  which  means  "to 
see."  If  we  trace  the  origin  of  the  word,  we 
find  that  the  first  and  most  ancient  meaning  is 
"seeing  with  the  eyes."  The  second  meaning 
is  "perceiving  with  the  different  senses,"  per- 
ceiving, that  is,  with  the  sense  of  seeing,  sense 


4  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

of  hearing,  sense  of  smelling,  sense  of  feeling, 
and  sense  of  tasting.  Darsana,  therefore,  in- 
cludes all  that  we  feel  and  all  that  we  perceive 
with  the  external  senses  through  our  minds.  The 
third  development  of  the  word  is  "seeing  with 
the  Divine  eye,"  that  is,  the  eye  which  is  opened 
through  meditation  and  purity  of  life,  by  which 
means  the  soul  is  brought  into  touch  with  the 
Highest.  Thus  the  three  meanings  of  the  word 
Darsana  are :  seeing  with  the  senses,  seeing 
with  the  mind,  and  seeing  with  the  Divine  eye, 
which  last  you  may  call  intuition. 

The  third  meaning  is  the  most  important  one 
to  be  remembered,  as  it  marks  off  Indian  philos- 
ophy from  the  philosophies  of  the  rest  of  the 
world  by  presupposing  that  the  soul  is  the 
ultimate  Reality,  and  that  its  substance  as  well 
as  its  form  is  to  be  described  by  the  word  intui- 
tion (Sakshi  Svarupa).  Some  philosophers 
appear  to  think  that  consciousness  is  an  attri- 
bute or  faculty  of  the  soul  which  is  independent 
of  the  senses ;  others  again  think  that  conscious- 
ness is  independent  of  the  senses  as  well  as  of 
the  reasoning  powers,  and  is  the  intermediate 
link  between  soul  and  thought  activity;  but 
the  Vedanta  teaches  that  soul  is  pure  intuition. 

There  are  at  least  sixteen  different  schools  of 
philosophy  in  India,^  but  of  these  only  the  six 
principal  systems  are  generally  recognised.  The 
first  and  oldest  of  them  is  the  Samkhya,  the 
founder  of  which  was  Kapila.  Kapila  is  regarded 

'  See  Appendix. 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS   5 

as  the  father  of  Indian  philosophy  because, 
although  philosophy  in  the  sense  of  Darsana 
was  known  to  the  Rishis  even  before  his  time, 
he  was  the  first  to  place  it  on  a  rational  basis. 

Now  let  us  turn  to  the  meaning  of  the  word 
Samkhya.  Samkhya  means  that  which  can  be 
numbered,  classified,  grouped.  Kapila  called 
his  system  the  numbering  system,  but  of  course 
it  had  nothing  to  do  with  arithmetic.  It  was 
so  called  because  he  classified  material  phenom- 
ena under  twenty-four  heads,  or  principles. 
The  other  meaning  of  the  word  Samkhya  is 
Atmanatmaviveka,  which  means  the  discrimina- 
tion of  soul  from  nature,  spirit  from  matter. 
The  reason  for  separating  or  differentiating  the 
soul  from  matter  is  that  we  are  conscious  within 
ourselves  of  a  principle,  i.e.  self -consciousness, 
which  is  quite  different  from  the  rest  of  the 
universe.  You  are  aware  within  yourself  of 
your  own  existence;  I  am  conscious  within 
myself  of  my  own  existence,  and,  going  deeper 
still,  I  find  that  I  am  conscious  of  my  own  exist- 
ence as  the  witness  or  seer  of  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  that  pass  within  the  mind  and  body, 
within  which  the  soul  appears  to  dwell.  As  the 
thoughts  and  feelings  of  each  one  of  us  differ 
from  the  thoughts  and  feelings  of  others,  Kapila 
assumed  the  existence  of  a  plurality  of  inde- 
pendent souls,  each  of  which  is  fundamentally 
different  from  every  other.  He  also  assumed 
the  existence  of  a  world  of  matter  independent 
of  the  world  of  souls. 


6  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

The  object  of  the  Samkhya  Is  to  realise  the 
distinction  between  matter  and  spirit,  so  that 
the  latter  can  emancipate  itself  from  the  bond- 
age of  the  former;  thus  Samkhya  teaches  us 
how  to  see  the  spirit  which  lies  encased  in 
matter,  therefore  it  is  called  a  Darsana  because 
it  invites  us  to  see  the  glory  of  the  spirit  as  it  is 
in  itself. 

The  second  system  of  Indian  philosophy  was 
founded  by  Patanjali  and  is  called  the  Yoga. 
The  Yoga  Darsana  is  not  an  independent 
Darsana,  but  has  arisen  out  of  the  Samkhya 
and  may  be  said  to  supplement  it.  The  word 
Yoga  means  **  self -concentration  with  a  view 
to  see  the  soul  as  it  looks  when  it  is  abstracted 
from  mind  and  matter." 

Patanjali  says  in  his  Yoga  Sastra  that  when 
the  soul  is  freed  from  distraction,  ignorance,  and 
doubt,  it  stands  face  to  face  with  God  and  is 
blessed  with  the  vision  of  the  All-holy.  Thus 
it  is  quite  clear  that  the  object  of  the  Yoga 
Darsana  is  to  teach  us  how  the  eye  of  the  soul 
may  be  opened  so  that  we  can  see  our  God, 
through  whose  grace  we  are  able  to  escape  the 
miseries  that  are  due  to  ignorance.  The  fruit 
of  God-vision  is  perfection.  Man  can  only  be 
saved  by  Yoga,  that  is  by  the  conscious  union 
of  finite  souls  with  the  Infinite  through  the  clear 
recognition  on  the  part  of  the  former  of  the 
essential  kinship  of  both.  This  recognition  may 
be  obtained  in  various  ways,  either  by  dedicating 
all  the  fruits  of  our  work  to  God  —  this  way  is 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS    7 

called  the  Karma  Yoga  —  or  by  the  absolute 
surrender  of  all  our  hopes  and  aspirations,  and 
our  self  also,  to  God,  in  the  belief  that  His  grace 
is  our  highest  good.  This  is  called  Bhakti  Yoga, 
or  the  realisation  of  God  through  love  and 
devotion.  The  highest  form  of  Yoga  is  called 
Jnana  Yoga,  in  which  the  finite  soul  does  not 
see  itself  except  as  infilled  by,  and  identical 
with,  the  Absolute  God. 

The  third  system  of  Indian  philosophy  is 
called  the  Nyaya  which  was  delivered  by 
Gotama.  He  taught  that  the  highest  aim  of 
human  life  was  to  attain  to  a  right  understand- 
ing of  God,  soul,  and  nature.  The  word  Nyaya 
means  standard,  or  universal  principle.  This 
Gotama  lived  long  before  Gautama  the  Buddha 
and  was  the  inventor  of  Hindu  logic,  physics, 
and  metaphysics. 

The  fourth  system  is  called  the  Vaishesika 
and  is  also  based  upon  Gotama's  Nyaya ;  it  is, 
in  fact,  one  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  latter. 
It  teaches  that  Liberation  is  the  reward  of 
Divine  knowledge. 

The  last  two,  the  fifth  and  sixth  systems  of 
Indian  philosophy,  are  called  the  Mimamsa 
and  the  Vedanta,  taught  respectively  by  Jai- 
mini  and  Vyasa.  Mimamsa  means  profound 
thought,  reflection,  and  is  concerned  chiefly 
with  the  correct  interpretation  of  Vedic  ritual 
and  text,  while  the  Vedanta  deals  with  the 
inquiry  into  the  nature  of  the  Absolute  Spirit. 
The  object  of  the  Vedanta  is  to  discern  the 


8  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

highest  truth  that  is  revealed  in  the  conscious- 
ness of  humanity,  and  thereby  to  attain  the 
Highest  Goal  of  existence. 

Now  I  will  briefly  refer  to  some  of  the  subjects 
treated  of  in  the  dififerent  Darsanas,  and  this 
will  enable  you  to  form  an  idea  of  the  scope 
and  object  of  Hindu  philosophy.  They  are  as 
follows : 

The  origin  and  constitution  of  the  universe. 

The  nature  of  knowledge  and  its  instruments 
(such  as  mind,  etc.). 

The  discrimination  of  the  soul  and  its  im- 
mortality. 

The  future  state  of  the  soul  and  its  wanderings. 

The  cause  of  our  embodied  existence. 

The  cause  of  pleasure  and  pain. 

Moral  law  (Karma). 

Bondage  and  Liberation. 

Personal  God  and  the  Absolute,  or  the  Im- 
personal God. 

One  aim  inspires  the  whole  body  of  Hindu 
Darsanas,  and  that  is  Liberation  —  Mukti. 

"As  the  waters  of  the  ocean  have  only  one 
taste,  which  is  salt,  so  the  Darsanas  have  only 
one  aim,  which  is  Liberation." 

Man  wants  to  be  liberated,  to  be  free  —  free 
from  the  imperfections  of  his  own  nature  — 
physical,  intellectual,  moral,  and  spiritual.  This 
aspiration  is  seated  deep  down  in  the  very 
nature  of  our  spiritual  consciousness,  ^nd  finds 
eloquent  expression  in  the  songs  of  the  Upani- 
shads  and  in  the  aphorisms  of  the  Darsanas. 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS    9 

To  attain  to  freedom  means  to  be  holy  and  wise 
and  perfect,  as  God  is  perfect,  wise,  and  holy. 
Different  philosophers  have  interpreted  freedom 
in  different  ways ;  for  instance,  Kapila  says  that 
freedom  means  the  realisation  of  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  spirit  from  the  material  principle 
in  which  it  finds  itself  entangled.  This  state 
of  perfection  means  complete  freedom  from  the 
vicissitudes  of  terrestrial  existence,  but  this 
may  be  taken  in  two  ways :  first,  that  the  soul 
may  be  completely  extinguished,  just  as  the 
flame  of  a  candle  is  extinguished ;  or  that  the 
soul  may  return  to  God  from  Whom  it  arose. 

The  former  teaching  has  been  attributed  to 
the  Buddha,  while  the  latter  emanates  from  the 
Vedanta.  I  cannot  enter  into  a  discussion  as 
to  whether  the  Buddha  meant  by  Nirvana  the 
complete  extinction  of  the  soul,  for  the  Buddha 
preferred  to  be  silent  on  questions  relating  to 
the  finality  of  things,  and,  as  often  happens,  his 
followers  interpreted  the  sayings  of  the  master 
according  to  their  own  favourite  views  .^  I  can 
only  say  that  my  personal  opinion  on  the  subject 
of  the  Buddhist  doctrine  of  Nirvana  is  that  the 
Buddha  meant,  not  the  extinction  of  the  im- 
mortal spirit,  but  of  the  lower  ego  which  is  the 
seat  of  all  selfishness  and  imperfection.  That 
this  is  so  seems  probable  from  what  he  said 
on  one  occasion  when  he  took  some  dry  leaves 
into  the_  hollow  of  his  hand,  and  asked  his 
disciple  Ananda  to  tell  him  whether  there  were 

^  See  Appendix. 


10  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

any  other  leaves  besides  these,  to  which  Ananda 
replied : 

"The  Teaves  of  autumn  are  falling  on  all 
sides,  and  there  are  more  of  them  than  can  be 
numbered." 

Then  the  Buddha  said:  "In  like  manner  I 
have  given  you  a  handful  of  truths,  but  besides 
these  there  are  many  thousands  of  other  truths, 
more  than  can  be  numbered." 

The  Buddha  was  of  opinion  that  man  must 
be  taught  to  be  moral  first,  then  he  will  see  the 
greater  truths  for  himself.^ 

The  Vedantic  conception  of  the  soul  is  based 
upon  the  essential  unity  of  the  soul  and  Brah- 
man. The  Vedantin  holds  that  the  idea  of  an 
individual  soul  existing  apart  from  the  Absolute 
is  mistaken  logic.  Man  thinks  that  he  is  cut 
off  from  the  Infinite  because  of  his  ignorance. 
Liberation  means  the  passing  away  for  ever  of 
this  illusory  sense  of  finiteness,  and  realising  the 
eternal  nature  of  the  Soul. 

All  philosophical  speculation  can  be  traced 
in  the  Rig  Veda,  which  is  the  oldest  of  all  the 
Vedas ;  there  we  find  such  passages  as  the 
following : 

"The  poets  and  prophets  discover  God  in 
their  hearts.  Beyond  light  and  darkness,  there 
He  shines  in  His  wonderful  Majesty." 

The  entire  Vedic  literature  is  filled  'with 
references  to  the  existence  of  a  God,  and  man's 
need    to    realise    Him.     The    Upanishads,    of 

^  See  Appendix. 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS   11 

which  at  the  present  time  there  are  only  108 
in  number,  are  full  of  the  loftiest  poetry  with 
regard  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  the 
Creator  of  this  universe,  and  the  final  liberation 
of  man  through  the  knowledge  of  "the  God 
who  dwells  in  the  cavity  of  the  heart."  All 
the  philosophical  speculations  of  the  world  can 
be  traced  to  the  Upanishads,  which  are  an  in- 
exhaustible storehouse  of  scientific  and  philo- 
sophic ideas. 

The  next  body  of  literature  are  the  Sutras, 
or  aphorisms :  all  the  Darsanas  are  written  in 
this  form,  and  it  is  quite  impossible  to  under- 
stand them  without  commentaries.  These  were 
written  much  later.  The  interpretation  is  in 
the  hands  of  Brahmanas  and  Sannyasins ;  the 
Brahmanas  teach  the  lay  pupils,  and  the 
Sannyasins  teach  those  who  renounce  the 
pursuits  of  mundane  life  and  devote  them- 
selves exclusively  to  the  realisation  of  the 
Absolute  Brahman. 

It  is  exceedingly  diflBcult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  settle  the  chronological  order  in  which  these 
different  systems  were  given  to  the  world. 
European  scholars  have  a  tendency  to  fix  the 
age  of  Sanscrit  literature  at  a  much  later  date 
than  we  do  in  India,  basing  their  conclusions  on 
very  superficial  evidence.  For  instance,  Wilson 
based  his  conclusions  concerning  the  date  of 
the  Mudra-Rakhasa  from  a  passage  which  runs 
as  follows :  "...  being  troubled  by  the 
barbarians " ;     he   said   that   this   drama  was 


12  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

composed  between  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries  a.d.,  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
India  was  invaded  by  the  Mahomedans  at  that 
time ;  but  the  word  Mlechchha  refers  to  all  non- 
Indians,  and  we  know  that  Alexander  the  Great 
invaded  India  in  the  foufth  century  B.C.,  and 
that  after  Alexander's  time  India  was  repeatedly 
invaded  by  Baetrian  Greeks  and  Scythians. 
But  Wilson  gives  no  reason  why  Mudra-Rakhasa 
should  not  belong  to  the  Alexandrian  period. 
Again,  Max  Miiller  thinks  that  the  Vedas  were 
composed  between  1500  and  1000  B.C.,  and  he 
refers  the  Sutra  literature  to  a  period  extending 
from  600  to  200  B.C.,  although  there  is  hardly 
a  single  scrap  of  evidence  to  substantiate  this 
view.^ 

We  shall  therefore  leave  the  question  of  dates 
alone.  It  is  certain  that  in  very  ancient  times 
the  real  authors  of  the  Vedas  taught  them  to 
their  pupils,  by  whom  they  were  afterwards 
handed  down  to  successive  generations,  when 
the  teachings  contained  in  them  came  to  be 
widely  diffused.  In  later  ages,  these  were 
reduced  to  writing  and  divided  into  different 
systems  according  to  the  subject  matter,  each 
being  ascribed  to  the  celebrated  Rishi  through 
whom  it  was  believed  to  have  been  revealed. 

With  regard  to  Indian  philosophy,  it  is  im- 
possible to  apply  what  is  known  as  the  ideal 
method,  or  for  the  matter  of  that  the  chrono- 
logical method  either,  in  tracing  the  develop- 

^  See  Appendix. 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS   13 

ment  of  the  Darsanas.  It  is  tolerably  certain 
that  none  of  the  six  teachers  whom  I  mentioned 
actually  wrote  the  Sutras  which  pass  under 
their  name.  Kapila,  Kanada,  Gotama,  Jaimini, 
Patanjali,  and  Vyasa  taught  these  Darsanas  to 
their  pupils  in  systematic  form,  and  many 
centuries  after  their  death  the  Sutras  were 
written;  but  these  great  Rishis  were  not  the 
originators,  they  were  the  conveyers  of  the 
Darsanas.  It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that  these 
Darsanas  passed  through  two  stages  in  the 
course  of  their  development,  viz.  the  oral  and 
the  written  stage,  the  former  being  of  course 
the  more  ancient. 

European  historians  and  antiquarians  firmly 
believe  that  their  ancestors  were  savages  and 
that  they  are  far  more  enlightened  than  their 
forefathers,  but  we  in  India  believe  exactly  the 
opposite.  We  think  that  our  ancestors  were 
gods  and  Rishis,  endowed  with  superhuman 
wisdom  and  holiness,  and  that  we  Indians  of 
the  present  day  are  their  unworthy  descendants. 
The  illusion  of  European  historians  consists  in 
judging  our  history  from  a  knowledge  of  their 
own  past.  I  should  like  to  remind  them  that 
the  law  which  they  deduce  from  a  study  of 
the  history  of  Europe  after  the  fall  of  the 
Roman  Empire  cannot  be  held  to  account  for  the 
civilisations  of  ancient  Egypt,  Greece,  Persia, 
India,  and  China.  In  those  countries  civilisa- 
tion, instead  of  developing,  has  degenerated, 
while  in  Europe  civilisation  has  progressed  from 


14  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

very  unpromising  beginnings.  India  looks 
back,  while  Europe  looks  forward  to  the  Golden 
Age. 

It  is  not  every  one  who  is  called  to  the  study 
of  the  Darsanas;  there  are  certain  mental, 
moral,  and  spiritual  qualifications  that  are 
necessary,  the  first  and  most  important  being 
that  the  student  should  have  fulfilled  all  his 
duties  towards  the  world,  among  which  are 
included,  not  only  civic  and  household  duties, 
but  all  the  observances  required  of  him  towards 
the  manes  of  his  forefathers,  as  well  as  the 
offering  of  sacrifices  to  the  deities  who  preside 
over  nature.  Next,  he  must  be  able  to  control 
his  senses,  his  mind  and  intellect.  He  must 
cultivate  what  is  called  one-pointedness,  not 
allowing  his  mind  to  wander ;  he  must  be  ready 
to  forgive  every  injury  that  may  be  inflicted  on 
him;  and  he  must  be  able  to  see  God  in  all. 
When  a  man  possesses  all  these  qualifications, 
then  he  is  allowed  to  study  philosophy.  Yet 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  mass  of  the 
people  are  kept  in  ignorance,  for  as  in  Europe 
there  are  only  a  few  experts  who  devote  them- 
selves to  the  higher  branches  of  science,  such 
as  mechanics,  chemistry,  medicine,  etc.,  so  in 
India  it  is  only  the  few  who  may  devote  them- 
selves to  the  study  of  the  Darsanas,  while  to 
the  populace  philosophy  is  taught  through  the 
medium  of  religion,  mythology,  and  parables. 
The  drama,  art,  and  poetry  of  India  are  all 
pervaded  by  this  teaching. 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS  15 

The  circle  of  students  who  are  privileged  to 
study  the  Darsanas  under  qualified  teachers  is 
very  wide  in  one  direction,  and  very  narrow  in 
the  other;  for  instance,  it  is  wide  because  it 
includes  all  the  Devas  ^  and  the  Pitris,^  and  the 
three  twice-born  castes.  It  is  narrow  because 
it  excludes  the  Sudras,  or  fourth  caste,  and 
women,  unless  they  give  up  their  worldly  attach- 
ments and  devote  themselves  completely  to  the 
unfoldment  of  the  spiritual  side  of  their  nature. 
The  sine  qua  non  of  the  privilege  of  study  in  all 
cases  is  a  real  thirst  for  truth. ^ 

In  India  the  ideal  of  education  is  very  high, 
and  consequently  its  realisation  implies  a  process 
coeval  with  the  progress  of  the  soul  through 
infinite  time.  As  the  summit  of  human  per- 
fection cannot  be  attained  within  the  brief  span 
of  a  single  life,  and  as  society  is  composed  of 
individuals,  each  differing  from  the  other  in 
taste,  inclination,  capacity,  and  attainment, 
education  was  arranged  in  such  a  way  that 
all  classes  of  men  and  women,  from  the  best 
and  brightest  minds  to  the  most  commonplace, 
should  be  afforded  opportunities  for  receiving 
instruction. 

The  Rishis  recognised  that  a  fundamental 
contradiction  exists  between  the  requirements 
of  our  spiritual  and  our  earthly  life,  and  that 

1  The  Devas  are  the  personal  deities  who  preside  over  the 
various  forces  of  nature.  The  Pitris  are  the  spirits  of  the  dead, 
ancestral  spirits. 

2  See  Appendix. 


16  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

this  can  only  be  overcome  by  making  the  latter 
subservient  to  the  former.  From  this  originated 
the  institution  of  Asrams  and  castes.  The 
Asrams  are  the  stages  of  life  for  receiving  the 
education  suited  to  each ;  for  instance,  the  first 
period  of  a  man's  life  ought  to  be  devoted  to 
the  acquirement  of  knowledge ;  the  next  should 
be  devoted  to  the  performance  of  the  duties 
incidental  to  social  life ;  the  third  period  should 
be  devoted  to  the  acquisition  of  truths  which 
lie  at  the  root  of  all  things,  such  as  the  nature 
of  God,  the  state  of  the  soul  after  death,  etc., 
and  the  fourth  period  should  be  devoted  to  the 
realisation  of  the  Highest ;  but  during  this  last 
period  of  life  men  who  have  passed  through  this 
training  are  expected  to  give  the  fruits  of  their 
experience  to  the  rising  generation. 

So  also  with  the  caste  system.  It  is  based 
upon  the  fact  that  our  capacities  are  to  a  great 
extent  inborn,  and  that  the  ends  of  a  complex 
society  can  be  best  served  by  utilising  the 
principles  of  heredity.  Each  caste  has  a  particu- 
lar profession  as  well  as  duties  and  obligations 
of  its  own.  For  this  reason  the  education  of 
one  caste  differed  from  the  education  of  the 
others,  and  this  difference  is  explained  by  the 
desire  of  social  legislators  to  produce  the  most 
eflficient  citizen.  But  while  paying  attention  to 
the  development  of  the  practical  faculties  of 
citizens,  they  never  lost  sight  of  their  spiritual 
needs.  The  idea  was  that  whatever  may  be  the 
intellectual  or  moral  character  of  a  citizen,  each 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS  17 

one  is  to  be  taken  by  the  hand  and  led  step  by 
step  to  the  Highest  Goal. 

In  Europe,  philosophy  is  the  favourite  study 
of  those  who  are  of  a  contemplative  turn  of 
mind,  it  has  never  been  the  common  property 
of  the  public;  whereas  in  India,  philosophy  is 
as  vital  a  need  to  all  as  the  air  we  breathe  or 
the  food  we  eat,  it  is  not  in  the  hands  of  ama- 
teurs or  academical  professors. 

European  philosophy  does  not  concern  itself 
either  with  the  foundation  of  religion  or  that  of 
morality.  The  people,  no  less  than  the  Church, 
never  expected  guidance  from  the  philosopher 
in  matters  relating  to  the  supersensuous.  But 
in  India  the  teachers  of  the  six  systems  of 
philosophy  are  also  the  teachers  of  religion 
and  morality.  Religious  life  was  never  divorced 
from  philosophical  contemplation,  nor  was  the 
culture  of  the  Darsanas  viewed  with  suspicion 
by  religious  people.  The  secret  of  the  harmony 
between  Darsanikas  and  Dharmikas  (philoso- 
phers and  religious  men)  is  that  the  former 
started  with  the  assumption  that  the  Vedas 
were  revealed  to  man  by  God.  No  Darsanika 
every  questioned  this  supreme  fact,  hence  the 
happy  blending  of  faith  with  reason,  which  is 
conspicuously  absent  in  the  history  of  the 
development  of  European  philosophy. 

The  Indian  Darsanika  starts  his  inquiry 
with  a  searching  examination  of  the  position 
of  man,  including  both  his  psychology  and  his 
surroundings;    he  finds  that  although  man  is 


18  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

happy  to  a  certain  degree,  he  is  not  supremely 
so,  that  his  lot  is  a  mixed  one,  while  he  continually 
longs  for  an  unmixed  state  of  blessedness.  The 
investigation  into  the  cause  of  suffering  leads 
the  Indian  philosopher  to  the  conclusion  that 
all  pain  is  due  to  our  confusion  of  the  immaterial 
spirit  with  the  material  body,  and  his  final 
teaching  is  that  man  can  —  by  means  of  know- 
ledge, and  knowledge  alone  (Jnana)  —  become, 
not  only  the  master  of  his  fate,  but  that  he  can 
isolate  himself  completely  from  the  onslaught 
of  all  evils,  including  death,  even  in  this  life. 

Hindu  philosophers  teach  that  the  soul  is 
a  spiritual,  conscious  substance,  perfect  and 
universal,  neither  liable  to  birth,  death,  or  pain, 
but  that,  owing  to  the  power  of  a  mysterious 
agency,  sometimes  called  Avidya,  ignorance, 
and  sometimes  Aviveka,  non-discrimination,  or 
Mithya  Jnana,  false  knowledge,  souls  are  tied 
to  subtile  bodies  and  are  made  to  pass  through 
pain  and  pleasure,  birth  and  death.  Souls  suffer 
Samsara,  or  repeated  births,  owing  to  non- 
discrimination of  the  real  from  the  unreal,  i.e. 
the  confusion  of  the  Immortal  Soul  with  the 
perishable  aspects  of  personality.  All  works 
born  out  of  this  primitive  non-discrimination, 
whether  mental  or  physical,  moral  or  immoral, 
are  reproductive,  i.e.  they  go  on  multiplying 
until  they  are  counteracted  and  destroyed  by 
true  knowledge.  Therefore  the  highest  aim  of 
man  is  to  attain  to  perfection  and  freedom 
through  the  destruction  of  all  Karma  (works). 


I  VIEWS  OF  INDIAN  PHILOSOPHERS   19 

Karma  can  only  be  destroyed  by  the  complete 
annihilation  of  ignorance,  non-discrimination, 
and  false  knowledge. 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  picture  in  the 
mind's  eye  the  state  of  freedom  which  the 
Indian  philosopher  has  in  view.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  he  believes  that  all  that  we 
call  suffering,  disease,  and  death,  is,  in  the 
last  analysis,  a  state  of  feeling  which  does  not 
correspond  with  reality.  When  Jnana  ^  arises, 
all  the  apparitions  which  are  called  up  by  our 
imagination  and  feeling  will  vanish  away  and 
nothing  will  remain  except  the  Absolute  I  AM. 
This  is  called  the  highest  stage,  from  the  summit 
of  which  body,  mind,  and  the  whole  universe 
will  appear  as  mere  shadows.  J 

Although  this  idea  of  Mukti,  or  liberation  of 
the  finite  spirit  through  the  knowledge  of  its 
infinite  nature,  is  foreign  to  European  philoso- 
phers, it  must  be  said  that,  both  in  the  Bible 
and  in  the  writings  of  early  Christian  mystics, 
the  belief  in  the  attainment  of  one-ness  with 
God  through  love  is  frequently  to  be  met  with. 
Again,  although  the  idea  of  the  infinite  move- 
ment of  the  finite  spirit  in  accordance  with  the 
law  of  moral  retribution  has  not  found  any  place 
in  the  discussions  of  European  philosophers,  it 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  unfamiliar  to  the 
author  of  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John. 

^  Jnana  is  the  intuition  which  arises  through  the  development 
of  the  cognitive  faculties. 


20  BRAHMADARSANAM  i 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Sarvadarsana  Samgraha,  p.  85. 
Buddha,  by  H.  Oldenberg,  pp.  263-285. 
Dhammapada,  pp.  427-445. 
Samyuttaka  Nikaya. 
Malinda  Fanha. 
Rig  Veda. 

Mr.  Dhruva's  paper,  "On  the  Age  of  the  Veda." 
Mr.  Tilak's  "Arctic  Home   of   the  Aryas"   and    "The 
Orion." 


n 

DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT 

Kapila's  early  training  —  His  philosophy  and  ethics  —  Three 
sources  of  knowledge  —  Evolution  of  the  universe  —  Nature 
of  the  soul :  its  bondage  and  salvation. 

In  my  last  lecture  I  explained  that  the  first 
object  of  Hindu  philosophers  was  to  investigate 
the  cause  of  life  and  nature,  and  then  to  discover 
the  best  means  of  becoming  one  with  that  cause ; 
that  is  to  say,  it  is  a  search  into  the  eternal 
nature  of  the  human  soul  and  an  inquiry  as  to 
its  ultimate  destiny. 

To-night  I  propose  to  take  up  the  subject  of 
the  most  ancient  and  most  honoured  of  Indian 
philosophies,  the  Samkhya.  This  word  has  two 
meanings,  of  which  one  is  the  enumeration  of 
first  principles,  and  the  other,  the  discrimination 
of  spirit  from  matter.  The  real  founder  of  the 
system  is  absolutely  unknown,  but  the  germ  of 
its  teaching  is  to  be  found  in  verse  5,  chapter  iv. 
of  the  Svetdsvetara  Upanishad  of  the  Krishna 
Yajur  Veda,  where  several  references  to  the 
Samkhya  doctrine  occur;    but  the  Samkhya 

21 


22  BRAHMADARSANAM  n 

philosophy  was  first  taught  in  a  systematic  form 
by  Kapila,  and  for  this  reason  he  is  regarded 
as  its  founder.  It  was  Kapila  who  systematised 
it  and  placed  it  upon  a  rational  basis ;  he  was 
the  first  to  collect  the  different  ideas  that  were 
taught  under  the  Samkhya  system,  and  it  was 
he  who  delivered  it  to  the  world.^ 

Very  little  is  known  regarding  the  facts  of 
the  founder's  life.  His  father  was  a  Rishi  called 
Kardama,  and  his  mother's  name  was  Devahuti. 
It  was  from  her  that  he  learnt  the  rudiments  of 
philosophy  and  all  the  varied  teachings  about 
the  soul,  the  life  hereafter,  and  the  Eternal  God. 

Gradually  the  teachings  of  the  mother  pro- 
duced their  results  in  him  and  he  took  to  a  life 
of  contemplation;  tradition  says  that  in  later 
life  he  destroyed  the  wicked  sons  of  Sagara,  the 
then-reigning  king,  by  means  of  his  occult  power. 
A  likeness  of  Kapila  has  recently  been  found, 
sculptured  in  the  rock,  in  a  cave  temple  which 
still  exists  in  the  district  of  Anuradhapura  in 
Ceylon.  It  shows  him  sitting  in  his  cave  in  an 
attitude  of  contemplation.  He  is  said  to  have 
passed  the  remainder  of  his  days  on  an  island 
called  Sagara  which  is  situated  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river  Ganges,  about  ninety  miles  from 
Calcutta,  and  every  year,  on  the  last  day  of  the 
Sanscrit  month  Magha,  at  the  time  when  the 
sun  begins  its  northerly  course  and  passes  from 
Sagittarius  into  Capricornus,  thousands  of  men 
and  women  visit  the  place  where  he  meditated 

*  See  Appendix. 


II  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    23 

and  gave  the  fruits  of  his  meditation  to  Asuri, 
his  disciple.  Thus  the  tradition  of  his  Hfe  is 
still  kept  up  at  the  present  day,  and  all  Indians, 
especially  the  Hindus,  worship  his  memory  as 
a  great  saint  and  philosopher.^ 

As  regards  the  date  when  he  lived,  according 
to  Hindu  tradition  he  flourished  about  five 
thousand  years  from  now,  that  is  more  than 
two  thousand  years  before  the  birth  of  Buddha.^ 
Mention  of  him  has  been  found  in  many 
Sanscrit  books,  and  even  those  writers  who  are 
opposed  to  his  doctrines  allude  to  him  with  the 
greatest  reverence,  which  proves  how  great  his 
influence  must  have  been  in  ancient  India. 

The  method  followed  in  the  Samkhya  Sutra 
is  pre-eminently  logical.  Kapila  recognises  three 
modes  of  gaining  knowledge:  perception,  in- 
ference, and  revelation  (Sabda).  The  existence 
of  the  world  is  proved  by  the  testimony  of  the 
senses,  and  the  existence  of  the  cause  of  the  world 
can  be  proved  by  inference.  The  existence  of  the 
soul  is  also  proved  by  inference.  Kapila  regards 
the  Vedas  as  revealed,  and  cites  Vedic  texts  as 
an  infallible  authority  in  support  of  all  his  theses 
—  which  are  proved  by  perception  and  inference. 

By  perception  is  meant  the  knowledge  pro- 
duced through  the  contact  of  the  understanding 
and  senses  with  objects.  Our  intellect  assumes 
the  form  of  the  object  which  is  presented  before 
the  mind  by  the  senses.  I  see  the  ink-pot 
because  — 

^  See  Appendix.  *  See  Appendix. 


24  BRAHMADARSANAM  n 

(1)  The  ink-pot  is  within  the  range  of  my 
vision,  and 

(2)  My  intellect  spontaneously  assumes  the 
form  of  the  ink-pot. 

The  soul  becomes  aware  of  the  existence  of  the 
ink-pot  owing  to  the  contribution  of  the  form 
of  the  ink-pot  by  the  intellect  and  the  contribu- 
tion of  the  matter  (colour,  etc.)  of  the  ink-pot 
by  the  organ  of  sight.  This  is  Kapila's  theory 
of  perception  (see  Sutra  89,  ch.  viii.).  Inference 
is  preceded  by  perception.  The  knowledge  by 
inference  is  due  to  the  unconditional  and 
universal  association  between  two  observed 
facts;  for  instance,  when  we  see  smoke  at  a 
distance  we  infer  the  existence  of  fire.  Why? 
Because  we  know  from  experience  that  fire  is 
always  present  where  there  is  smoke.  Thus 
whenever  we  see  an  effect,  we  infer  a  cause, 
because,  as  Kapila  says,  out  of  nothing  some- 
thing cannot  arise.  All  perceptions  are  not 
logically  valid.  A  perception  can  be  vitiated 
in  many  ways,  and  as  no  inference  is  of  any 
weight  unless  drawn  from  correct  perceptions, 
it  is  useful  to  be  acquainted  with  those  condi- 
tions which  tend  to  invalidate  perceptions. 

For  instance,  the  observer  must  not  be  very 
far  away  from  the  object  to  be  observed,  and  his 
senses  must  be  in  the  normal  state.  Neither 
can  he  obtain  a  correct  picture  of  an  object  if 
he  be  too  near  it.  The  observer's  mind  must  be 
scientifically  trained  and  free  from  prejudices 
and   undue   leanings.       Without   a   judicious 


II  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    25 

balance  of  the  mental  faculties  no  observer  can 
draw  truly  scientific  conclusions.  Then,  again, 
we  sometimes  fail  to  see  a  thing  even  with  the 
most  powerful  microscope  when  the  size  of  the 
object  is  too  small.  It  is  for  this  reason  that 
the  atom  is  impossible  of  being  observed.  The 
interval  of  time  is  one  of  the  most  important 
factors  in  observation,  and  if  the  interval  be 
too  long  it  is  most  probable  that  we  shall  not 
have  any  knowledge  of  the  object.  For  this 
reason  people  hesitate  to  accept  the  theory  of 
the  origin  of  the  nebular  system  or  that  of  the 
origin  of  species.  Lastly,  a  certain  amount  of 
what  may  be  called  pre-scientific  intuition  is 
necessary  in  order  that  facts  may  be  collected 
and  arranged  with  a  view  to  bring  them  under 
a  general  principle.  All  great  discoveries  in 
science  have  been  made  by  those  who  started 
their  scientific  career  with  a  kind  of  intuition. 
Intuition  creates  the  truths  which  the  mind 
understands.  Newton  had  the  intuition  of 
universal  attraction,  and  his  mind  brought  forth 
the  mathematical  laws  of  the  falling  bodies  in 
order  to  confirm  his  intuitive  conviction. 

Kapila  teaches  that  in  its  phenomenal  aspects 
a  thing  changes,  but  in  its  causal  aspect  it  is 
indestructible  and  eternal.  The  cause  of  the 
phenomenal  world  is  indestructible,  but  the 
world  as  seen  by  us  is  liable  to  the  law  of  change. 
Kapila  was  the  first  philosopher  who  taught 
that  the  universe  was  evolved  out  of  primal, 
undifferenced  matter. 


26  BRAHMADARSANAM  ii 

Kapila's  philosophy  is  characterised  by  a  deep 
moral  sentiment.  Perfection  is  the  aim  of  life, 
and  perfection  is  to  be  obtained  through  the 
knowledge  of  the  soul  as  distinct  from  matter. 
Virtue  is  the  road  to  perfection ;  happiness  and 
peace  are  the  rewards  of  a  virtuous  life;  dis- 
content and  misery  are  the  result  of  a  vicious 
life.  No  act  is  mortal,  no  thought  perishes. 
The  progress  of  the  individual  is  determined  by 
his  actions  :  man  becomes  angel  by  noble  deeds, 
and  beast  by  ignoble  ones,  for  our  deeds  accom- 
pany us  to  the  world  beyond  after  physical 
death.  Forgiveness  is  Divine;  there  is  no 
happiness  higher  than  that  which  arises  from 
forgiving  others.  Dispassion  is  worthy  of  the 
highest  praise,  and  passion  is  to  be  condemned 
because  the  offspring  of  attachment  to  the 
things  of  the  not-self  is  evil,  while  great  good 
arises  from  the  philosophic  virtues  of  dispassion, 
serenity,  and  contemplation. 

The  transcendental  grounds  of  Kapila's  ethics 
are  :  (1)  eternity  of  the  soul ;  (2)  imperishabil- 
ity of  human  feelings,  thoughts,  and  actions; 

(3)  rebirth  according  to  the  law  of  Karma ;  and 

(4)  Liberation  as  the  ultimate  goal  of  man.  In 
proportion  as  man  shuns  evil  and  chooses  good, 
as  he  knows  his  true  self  and  renounces  his  false 
self,  as  he  realises  freedom  and  ignores  the 
shadowy  pleasures  of  the  senses,  he  approaches 
nearer  and  nearer  to  Mukti  or  Liberation. 

Though  Kapila  accepted  the  authority  of 
the  Vedas  as  truths  revealed  to  the  Rishis  (see 


II  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    27 

Sutra  46,  ch.  v.,  and  147,  ch.  i.),  he  strongly 
protested  against  the  authority  of  the  priests. 
His  great  humanity  led  him  to  raise  his  voice 
against  animal  sacrifices,  and  he  also  taught 
that  no  sensible  man  should  perform  sacrifices 
with  a  view  to  entering  into  heaven  after  death, 
because,  by  the  law  of  rotation,  those  who  go 
to  heaven  must  return  to  earth  (see  Sutra  6, 
ch.  i.).  The  state  of  perfection  cannot  be 
attained  by  sacrifices,  by  offspring,  or  by  char- 
ity, but  only  by  renouncing  that  which  by  its 
nature  is  not  eternal. 

I  believe  that  Kapila  also  instituted  the 
Sannyas,  or  monastic  system.  Certainly  the 
trend  of  thought  in  the  fourth  chapter  of  the 
Sutras  inclines  towards  the  renunciation  of  the 
world  with  a  view  to  discovering  the  truths  of 
spiritual  life  in  the  solitude  of  mountain  and 
desert.  He  says  that  the  Yogi  ought  not  to 
associate  with  many  people,  as  such  association 
may  prove  an  obstacle  to  concentration.  He 
next  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  Sannyasin 
(one  who  has  renounced)  ought  to  live  absolutely 
alone.  Even  living  with  one  companion  only 
is  regarded  as  injurious  to  the  interests  of  the 
soul  (ch.  iv.  10).  All  knowledge  and  all  power 
is  contained  in  the  soul,  and  its  glory  is  revealed 
in  silence  and  solitude.  You  are  your  own 
friend,  your  own  guide,  your  own  teacher,  and 
your  own  saviour.  Comfort  yourself  by  your- 
self, raise  yourself  by  yourself,  educate  yourself 
by  yourself,  and  liberate  yourself  by  yourself. 


28  BRAHMADARSANAM  n 

I  will  now  try  to  explain  Kapila's  teaching 
about  the  origin  and  development  of  the  Universe. 
Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  present  old 
ideas  in  modern  language,  for,  as  Max  Miiller 
somewhere  says,  ancient  words  are  square  and 
modern  words  are  round .  The  sub  j  ect  will  appear 
very  complicated  to  you  because  the  philosophi- 
cal technicalities  of  the  Sanscrit  language  are 
quite  different  from  the  philosophical  terms  of 
English,  French,  German,  or  Norwegian.  Even 
such  words  as  mind,  perception,  immortality, 
and  salvation  have  quite  a  different  meaning 
in  Sanscrit ;  yet  in  order  that  you  should  under- 
stand the  spirit  of  the  Sanscrit  Darsanas,  it  is 
absolutely  necessary  that  you  should  under- 
stand what  each  term  connotes.  The  worth  of 
a  philosophy  depends  upon  the  meaning  at- 
tached to  the  words  used  by  the  philosopher. 

Kapila's  philosophy  is  called  the  Samkhya 
because  it  attempts  to  comprehend  the  Universe 
as  a  sum  total  of  25  Tattvas,  principles,  cate- 
gories, substances.  If  you  refer  to  the  chart 
you  will  understand  how  the  world  of  phenom- 
ena has  evolved  out  of  the  primal  undifferenced 
Matter  (Prakriti) .  Kapila  starts  with  the  exist- 
ence of  free  spirits  (Purusha),  and  an  original, 
unmanifested  substance  called  Prakriti,  or 
Nature,  which  was  anterior  to  creation.  Prior 
to  evolution,  the  three  Gunas  (forces,  substances, 
or  entities)  called  sattva,  raja,  and  tama  (mind, 
energy,  and  matter)  were  in  Prakriti  in  a  state 
of  perfect  equilibrium ;  evolution  begins  as  soon 


II  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    29 

as  spirits  come  in  touch  with  Prakriti.  Both 
spirit  and  nature  are  inactive  but  omnipresent, 
ubiquitous,  and  eternal  —  only  the  former  is 
conscious,  the  latter  unconscious.  The  creative 
activity  of  Prakriti  is  not  its  own,  but  is  due  to 
the  approach  of  the  spirit;  just  as  a  piece  of 
white  glass  appears  red  if  a  rose  is  placed  near 
it,  so  the  very  presence  of  Purusha  is  the  sine 
qua  non  of  creation  by  Prakriti.  Hence  there 
is  no  active  will  on  the  part  of  Purusha,  neither 
is  there  any  conscious  desire  on  the  part  of 
Prakriti,  to  create  the  world.  Action  follows  as 
the  result  of  the  meeting  of  two  eternal  entities. 

Prakriti  in  its  transcendental  aspect  is  called 
Avyakta  (the  Unmanifested),  in  its  empirical 
aspect  Mahat,  or  the  first  Great  Mind.  Mahat 
is  the  evolution  of  the  determinate  from  the  in- 
determinate, the  coming  forth  of  the  Idea,  the 
Psyche,  from  the  womb  of  its  eternal  ground, 
the  manifestation  of  the  cosmic  reason  from  a 
disturbance  in  the  equilibrium  of  the  everlasting 
Gunas.  At  this  distance  of  time  it  is  difficult 
to  understand  what  Kapila  really  meant  by 
Mahat,  the  first  development  of  Prakriti. 

A  doubt  arises  as  to  whether  Mahat  is  to  be 
taken  in  the  sense  of  a  phase  in  the  cosmic  growth 
containing  within  it  the  potentialities  of  life, 
will,  body,  as  well  as  of  the  material  world,  or 
only  pure  mind  and  reason.  Indian  com- 
mentators incline  to  the  latter  view,  pointing 
to  the  logical  priority  of  conception  over  that 
which  is  conceived,  of  thought  over  that  which 


30  BRAHMADARSANAM  n 

is  the  object  of  thought,  and  of  will  —  before  it 
became  dynamic.  Mahat  is  thought  in  which 
the  form  of  thought  and  the  movement  of  thought 
are  held  in  equilibrium,  just  as  Prakriti  is  sub- 
stance in  which  power  is  locked  up  in  idea,  so 
that  neither  power  nor  idea  can  be  said  to  have 
actual  existence  in  the  Avyakta.  The  problem 
as  to  how  Avyakta  is  transformed  into  Mahat 
is  inexplicable,  unless  we  suppose  that  Avyakta 
was  pregnant  with  productivity,  which  is  what 
Kapila  says. 

In  Mahat,  says  Kapila,  sattva  (goodness, 
light)  predominates,  while  raja  (energy)  and 
tama  (inertia,  darkness,  evil)  are  inactive  and 
almost  non-existent. 

Out  of  Mahat,  the  Great  Mind,  arises  Aham- 
kara  (the  subject,  ego,  "I"),  or  consciousness 
of  self  as  a  real  power,  or  doer,  opposed  to  not- 
self.  The  difference  between  Mahat  and  Aham- 
kara  is  the  difference  between  consciousness  and 
self-consciousness,  the  former  being  the  tran- 
scendental ground  and  logical  presupposition  of 
the  latter.  Out  of  Ahamkara  arise  the  five 
Tanmatras,  or  ethereal  counterparts  of  the 
elements,  which  are,  (1)  subtile  sound,  (2)  subtile 
touch,  (3)  subtile  light,  (4)  subtile  taste,  and 
(5)  subtile  smell,  and  the  eleven  senses,  viz.  the 
five  centres  of  perception  :  sight,  hearing,  touch, 
taste,  and  smell ;  the  five  centres  of  action : 
grasping,  walking,  secretion,  speech,  and  genera- 
tion ;  also  the  mind,  i.e.  the  inner  sense  which 
directs  the  ten  senses. 


n  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    31 

These  motor  and  sensitive  centres  are  not 
to  be  confounded  with  the  organs  of  sight,  etc., 
and  the  organs  of  action,  such  as  the  hands, 
legs,  etc.  They  are  functions  of  mind  con- 
joined to  the  nervous  system.  They  are  psycho- 
nervous  senses.  Kapila  says  that  these  centres 
are  invisible,  they  are  situated  inside  the  brain. 
Mind  is  regarded  as  the  central  power  or  faculty, 
for  receiving  messages  from  the  senses  and  for 
directing  them  to  their  respective  objects.  Out 
of  the  Tanmatras  arise  the  gross  elements : 
ether,  gas,  heat,  liquid  and  solid.  These  gross 
elements  (Mahabhutas)  appear  to  us  as  sky, 
atmosphere,  light  and  heat,  water  and  air.  The 
Tanmatras  are  the  media  between  senses  and 
objects,  and  their  function  is  to  act  as  excitants 
of  nerve  centres,  hence  each  Tanmatra  differs 
in  quality  from  every  other  Tanmatra;  for 
instance,  the  Tanmatra  which  excites  the  eye 
to  see  the  colour  of  an  object  is  quite  different 
from  the  Tanmatra  which  excites  the  auditory 
centre  to  perceive  the  distinction  between  con- 
tralto and  soprano.  The  Mahabhutas  (elements) 
have  an  extra-mental  and  extra-organic  exist- 
ence, but  the  Tanmatras  are  like  nerve  and  ether 
vibrations,  interpenetrating  matter  and  mind 
alike.  This  is  Kapila's  theory  of  the  evolution 
of  the  world. 

Kapila's  account  of  the  development  of  the 
Universe  is  neither  idealistic  nor  materialistic, 
nor  a  compound  of  both.  His  theory  is  not 
idealistic,  because  he  does  not  believe  in  the 


32  BRAHMADARSANAM  ii 

evolution  of  matter  and  energy  out  of  the  soul. 
His  theory  is  not  materialistic,  because  he  does 
not  evolve  soul  out  of  matter.  His  philosophy 
is  not  a  compromise  between  idealism  and 
materialism,  because  he  does  not  teach  that 
souls  and  nature  have  come  out  of  a  common 
substance,  call  it  God  or  universal  Mind.  He 
does  not  consider  that  it  is  philosophically  right 
to  assume  the  existence  of  a  God  to  account  for 
the  creation  of  the  world.  Just  as  milk  flows 
from  the  udder  of  a  cow  at  the  sight  of  her  calf, 
and  just  as  the  spider  weaves  the  cobweb  out 
of  its  own  body,  so  does  Nature  create.  Thus 
Kapila's  philosophy  is  known  to  Indian  scholars 
as  atheistic;  but  if  you  consider  the  matter 
well,  you  will  not  be  able  to  class  Kapila  with 
ordinary  atheists.  Kapila  recognises  the  possi- 
bility of  a  personal  God,  along  with  the  im- 
possibility of  proving  His  existence  according 
to  the  canons  of  perceptive  and  inferential  logic. 
If  God  were  perfect,  says  Kapila,  He  would  not 
feel  the  need  of  creating  a  world ;  if  He  were 
imperfect  —  an  imperfect  being  cannot  be  called 
God,  neither  would  He  have  the  power  or  in- 
telligence to  create  a  world.  Hence  it  follows 
that  Kapila's  philosophy  cannot  be  called 
theistic.  But  Kapila  believes  in  the  eternity 
of  the  soul,  in  the  supremacy  of  Jnana  (Divine 
Wisdom) ,  in  the  greatness  of  our  moral  sentiment, 
and  in  Nature  as  working  for  man's  highest  good. 
It  is  not  just  to  label  his  system  pessimistic,  for 
in  that  case  all  philosophy  which  starts  with 


II  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    33 

the  assumption  of  the  dimness  of  our  religious 
vision,  the  narrowness  of  our  sympathies,  the 
weakness  of  our  reasoning  faculty,  and,  above 
all,  of  our  liability  to  sickness,  pain,  and  death, 
must  be  stigmatised  as  pessimistic. 

All  philosophers,  whether  theistic  or  atheistic, 
are  in  search  of  a  wisdom  which,  by  its  all- 
mightiness  and  by  its  saving  quality,  shall 
raise  humanity  from  the  depths  of  sin,  folly, 
and  ignorance,  to  a  level  that  is  equal  with 
the  perfection  and  freedom  of  God  Himself. 
It  is  a  part  of  wisdom  to  recognise  the  imper- 
fection of  our  human  state;  it  is  also  a  part 
of  wisdom  to  hope  for  final  liberation  from  all 
our  limitations.  Man  is  in  reality  Divine, 
though  apparently  human. 

Kapila  teaches  that  although  our  terrestrial 
life  appears  to  be  full  of  sorrow,  yet  it  is  not 
our  true  destiny  to  suffer.  We  are,  in  essence, 
eternally  free,  eternally  wise,  eternally  living,  and 
eternally  holy.  All  this  suffering,  this  sickness, 
old  age  and  death  have  come  upon  us  as  the  re- 
sult of  oiu*  Aviveka,  or  unwisdom,  our  Avairagya 
or  habitual  attachment  to  sensual  pleasures. 
We  are  the  unwilUng  slaves  of  our  phantom 
selves  —  the  self  of  ignorance  and  the  self  of 
passion  —  those  selves  which  are  associated  with 
a  wrong  notion  of  personality.  Are  we  not  quite 
^contented  with  our  silly  opinions,  silly  comforts, 
silly  conduct,  and  silly  mode  of  life?  Be  wise 
and  learn  to  entertain  true  opinions,  to  enjoy 
true  comforts,  and  to  lead  a  noble  life.     That 


34  BRAHMADARSANAM  ii 

which  you  call  yourself  is  a  ghost;  your  true 
self  is  far  more  beautiful,  far  more  Divine. 
Realise  your  power  and  holiness,  your  inborn 
grandeur  and  your  perfect  wisdom.  Your  body 
should  be  your  slave,  not  you  the  slave  of  your 
body ;  your  mind  is  an  instrument  of  the  soul, 
let  it  not  get  the  better  of  the  soul. 

By  ignorance  is  meant  the  belief  that  the 
soul  shares  the  fate  of  the  body  and  is  incapable 
of  being  independent  of  Karma  (deeds),  Daiva 
(natural  forces),  and  Adrista  (mysterious  power) . 
This  ignorance  flows  like  a  perpetual  stream 
down  the  ages,  dragging  the  soul  to  an  unknown 
ocean  of  mixed  experiences.  It  is  this  ignorance 
which  is  responsible  for  our  birth,  old  age,  death, 
and  rebirth ;  it  existed  primarily  as  a  formless 
idea  in  Prakriti,and  secondarily  as  a  force  acting 
through  the  various  manifestations  of  nature. 
The  association  of  soul  with  matter  is  the  oppor- 
tunity for  the  unloosing  of  this  strange  demon  of 
ignorance  by  tying  the  soul  to  the  body,  thereby 
causing  it  to  undergo  the  pangs  of  rebirth. 

The  soul,  according  to  Kapila,  is  the  King  of 
Nature.  Your  feelings,  your  surroundings,  the 
world,  and  all  the  powers  of  the  universe  must 
offer  up  their  homage,  their  secrets,  to  your 
highest  spiritual  need.  Your  real  self  has  not 
only  the  knowledge  but  also  the  power  to 
separate  itself  from  the  false  self  and  to  rise 
above  the  reach  of  the  compelling  force  of 
universal  gravitation,  thereby  returning  to  its 
home  of  peace  and  light  and  love.    The  law  of 


II  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    35 

Karma,  by  which  every  thought,  word,  and 
deed,  like  a  seed  thrown  on  fertile  soil,  produces 
its  fruit  in  life  after  life,  determining  the  quality 
of  the  brain,  aflFections,  and  impulses,  is  not  half 
as  potent  as  the  potency  of  self-knowledge. 
Ignorance  is  the  mother  of  all  our  sorrows.  Sin 
is  ignorance,  cruelty  is  ignorance,  selfishness  is 
ignorance.  Be  not  selfish,  but  be  a  knower  of 
the  self.  A  selfish  man  is  he  who  is  ignorant 
of  his  true  self,  but  he  who  knows  the  self  has 
realised  the  difference  between  the  Eternal  and 
the  temporal  self,  the  real  Self  and  the  unreal. 
Self-knowledge  is  the  source  of  blessedness; 
self-government  gives  supremacy ;  self-control 
confers  contentment,  and  the  vision  of  the  Self 
reveals  the  absolute  "I  am." 

After  its  evolution  from  Avyakta  (the  un- 
differenced  primal  matter),  Prakriti  becomes 
Mahat  (the  great  monad,  or  intelligence) .  Mahat 
is  a  substance  which  has  eight  attributes : 
(1)  righteousness,  and  its  opposite  (2)  unright- 
eousness; (3)  knowledge,  and  its  opposite 
(4)  ignorance ;  (5)  dispassion,  and  its  opposite 
(6)  passion;  (7)  supernormal  power,  and  its 
opposite  (8)  powerlessness. 

Mahat  may  be  taken  to  mean  the  transcen- 
dental ground,  or  impersonal  source,  the  meta- 
physical hypothesis,  or  inconceivable  substratum 
of  our  personal  mind.  Mahat  is  the  first  deter- 
mination of  the  indeterminate  substance  con- 
taining the  qualities  of  goodness,  power,  wisdom, 
and  temperance. 


36  BRAHMADARSANAM  n 

Ahamkara  is  the  second  determination  of  the 
Primal  Indeterminate.  The  diffused  rays  of  the 
universal  mind  become  concentrated  and  are 
narrowed  down  to  the  limits  of  self-conscious- 
ness. As  the  Hindus  teach  that  God  becomes 
man  to  save  the  world,  so  Kapila  teaches 
that  Mahat  becomes  Ahamkara  —  the  universal 
becomes  individualised.  Ahamkara  is  the 
belief  that  /  am  the  conscious  subject  who  is 
experiencing  the  sensations  of  sound,  light, 
heat,  smell,  etc. 

In  order  to  understand  the  nature  of  Aham- 
kara, we  must  first  understand  the  psychology 
of  perception.  The  ego  is  the  centre  to  which 
all  perception  is  referred.  All  feelings  of  happi- 
ness or  unhappiness,  success  or  failure,  are 
claimed  by  the  ego.  Not  only  the  pleasures 
and  pains  of  my  own  body,  but  also  those  of 
other  bodies,  are  superimposed  upon  the  ego. 
A  man  becomes  unhappy  when  his  wife  or 
children  are  ill.  The  ego  claims  all  experience, 
whether  spiritual  or  social,  whether  physical 
or  mental,  as  its  own.  The  distinction  between 
subjective  and  objective  experience  is  due  to 
Ahamkara.  The  ego  is  this  which  I  feel  within 
myself,  the  non-ego  is  that  which  is  outside 
myself;  everything  has  an  individuality  of  its 
own  in  this  world.  Water  has  an  individuality 
of  its  own,  fire  likewise,  and  virtue  and 
vice.  We  see  the  individuality  in  things  be- 
cause we  are  conscious  of  our  own  individu- 
ality.    Mental  individuality  manifests  itself  in 


n  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    37 

good,  bad,  or  indifferent  deeds;  but  this  ego 
is  phenomenal  and  unreal,  it  is  not  our  true  and 
abiding  self. 

The  five  Tanmatras  arise  out  of  the  Aham- 
kara.  What  are  these  Tanmatras  ?  They  are  the 
essences,  radicles,  atoms,  and  fine  forces  which 
are  the  causes  of  the  grosser  elements  as  well  as 
the  causes  of  our  perception  of  the  external 
world.  Hence  the  Tanmatras  are  the  psycho- 
physical or  neuro-physical  waves  which  carry 
messages  from  the  sense  centres  to  the  mind. 
They  are  the  intermediate  links  which  connect 
the  ego  with  the  non-ego,  the  subject  with  the 
presentation.  They  are  five  in  number  because 
there  are  five  senses :  sight,  hearing,  smell, 
taste,  and  touch.  Each  Tanmatra  differs  in 
quality  from  the  other ;  the  Tanmatra  of  sound 
is  different  from  that  of  hght,  and  so  on;  but 
one  Tanmatra  is  enough  to  account  for  the 
diversity  within  it,  e.g.  one  Tanmatra  of  sound 
carries  all  varieties  of  sound,  such  as  the  differ- 
ent musical  notes  :  do,  re,  mi,  fa,  sol,  la,  si ;  so 
with  light,  heat,  smell,  etc. 

The  Tanmatras  are  followed  by  the  sixteen 
Mikaras,  or  modifications,  consisting  of  the  five 
organs  of  perception :  the  ears,  skin,  eyes, 
tongue,  and  nose,  and  the  five  organs  of  action  : 
the  voice,  hands,  feet,  the  organ  of  excretion, 
and  the  organ  of  generation. 

The  mind  is  the  eleventh  organ  whose  function 
it  is  to  direct  and  control  the  organs  of  percep- 
tion and  action.    The  mind  receives  messages 


38  BRA.HMADARSANAM  n 

and  sends  them,  the  mind  ascertains  facts,  and 
the  mind  doubts. 

The  five  Mahabhutas,  or  gross  elements,  are : 
solid,  liquid,  heat,  gas,  and  ether.  They  are  also 
named  :  earth,  water,  light,  air,  and  ether.  Earth 
has  five  qualities :  sound,  touch,  colour,  taste, 
and  smell.  Water  has  four :  sound,  touch, 
colour,  and  taste.  Light  has  three:  sound, 
touch,  and  colour.  Air  has  two :  sound  and 
touch.     Ether  has  one :  sound. 

These  are  the  24  Tattvas,  or  principles, 
enumerated  by  Kapila  to  explain  the  evolution 
of  the  universe.  Purusha,  or  soul,  is  the  25th 
principle,  and  possesses  the  following  character- 
istics :  the  soul  is  eternal,  without  end  or 
beginning,  subtile  and  indivisible,  uncreated; 
the  soul  is  a  seer,  because  it  sees  the  evolution 
of  nature;  it  is  transcendental,  because  it  is 
above  space,  time,  and  causality ;  it  is  unaffected 
by  goodness  and  evil ;  it  is  unproductive,  be- 
cause immaterial,  and  many,  because  infinite 
in  number. 

The  highest  aim  of  life  is  to  isolate  the  soul 
from  nature,  to  raise  it  above  the  perception  of 
time  and  space,  and  to  liberate  it  from  the  false 
self.  This  aim  can  be  realised  by  training  the 
soul  by  means  of  the  discipline  of  dispassion, 
righteousness,  superhuman  power,  and  know- 
ledge. Nature  is  not  a  hindrance  but  a  help  to 
its  progress.  When  the  soul  achieves  Mukti,  or 
Liberation,  it  rests  in  its  own  glory,  wisdom, 
freedom,  and  peace. 


II  DUALISM:  MATTER  AND  SPIRIT    39 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Tattva  SamSsa. 

Samkhyatattvaloka. 

Samkhyakaumudi. 

Pravachana  Sutra  with  Vedanti  Madhab's,  Aniruddha's, 

and  Vijnana  Bhikshu's  Tikas. 
Vyasa  Bhasya  on  Yoga  Sutra. 
Vachaspati  Misra's  Tattva  Kaumudi. 
Srimad  Bhagavata. 
Svetasvetara  Upanishad. 
The  Samhita  of  Astavakra. 


Ill 

THEISM:    GOD  AND  MAN 

Controversy  between  science  and  religion  —  Truth  is  one  — 
Arguments  in  favour  of  theism  by  Gotama,  Patanjali, 
N&rada  and  Sankara  —  The  trend  of  science  towards 
monism  —  Hymn  from  the  Rig  Veda  —  Agreement  between 
modem  science  and  the  Vedas. 

There  is  a  sadness  in  the  air,  a  sadness  born  of 
doubt.  The  present  age  is  one  of  scepticism. 
Two  mighty  currents  of  opinion  are  sweeping 
over  the  plain  of  human  thought;  the  first  is 
the  current  of  faith,  of  sacerdotal  authority,  of 
the  claims  of  revealed  religion  and  of  experiences 
labelled  spiritual.  This  river  of  religious  belief 
is  fed  by  many  tributary  streams  and  rivulets 
which  are  known  to  the  public  through  the 
medium  of  the  press,  the  pulpit,  and  the  plat- 
form, known  by  such  names  as  Theosophy,  Oc- 
cultism, Higher  Thought,  New  Thought,  Chris- 
tian Science,  Bahaism,  Spiritism.  The  aim  of  all 
these  is  to  establish  man's  faith  in  the  Invisible. 
I  use  the  word  "invisible"  to  cover  a  mass 
of  heterogeneous  facts  and  phenomena,  rang- 
ing  from   table-rapping,   thought-transference, 

40 


ni         THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN         41 

mediumship,  belief  in  "astral  planes,"  "subtile 
bodies,"  Karmaloka,^  reincarnation,  magnetic 
healing,  and  many  such  facts  supposed  to  exert 
a  direct  influence  upon  our  faith  in  the  existence 
of  another  order  of  experience  and  of  a  life 
beyond  death,  and  an  indirect  influence  towards 
the  development  of  our  sense  of  the  Infinite. 
These  many  forms  of  thought  are  leading  some 
to  the  fold  of  the  Mother  Church  of  Europe, 
while  enabling  others  to  read  a  new  meaning  into 
the  words  of  the  Scriptures,  and  thus,  in  a  sense, 
to  re-establish  the  traditions  of  the  Christian 
Church  on  a  new  foundation.  It  would  be  pre- 
mature at  present  to  pronounce  an  opinion  on 
the  ultimate  issue  of  this  first-named  current 
of  thought. 

The  second  current  of  opinion  is  that  of 
positive  thought  —  of  science,  both  theoretical 
and  applied.  The  light  of  science  has  dazzled 
the  eyes  of  her  votaries  to  such  an  extent  that, 
like  persons  blinded  by  the  sun,  they  can  see 
nothing  but  mist  and  gloom  outside  their 
laboratories  and  observatories.  The  scientist 
declares,  and  there  is  an  undeniable  ring  of 
truthfulness  in  his  tone,  that  he  had  dissected 
the  body  of  man,  that  he  has  examined  every 
muscle  and  bone,  every  nerve  and  sinew,  but 
has  not  found  the  soul,  that  he  has  swept  the 
entire  heavens  with  his  telescope,  but  has  not 
found  God.  To  him,  physical  death  is  the  last 
of  our  life's  drama,  and  the  "Hereafter"  is  a 

1  See  Appendix. 


42  BRAHMADARSANAM  ra 

dream,  a  fantasy  arising  from  the  fumes  of  an 
ill-digested  dinner.  God  is  the  hallucination  of 
disorganized  brains  and  insane  minds ;  nothing 
which  is  not  visible  is  counted  worthy  of  our 
credence. 

The  confession  of  the  scientist  of  a  generation 
ago  shook  religion  to  its  very  foundation. 
Positive  science  was,  and  to  a  certain  extent 
still  is,  in  a  statejof  declared  warfare  with  religion. 
Martin  Luther  (1483-1546)  made  man's  faith 
independent  of  the  authority  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  Galileo  (1564-1642)  made  man's 
reason  independent  of  his  faith.  In  cases  where 
feith  conflicts  with  reason,  we  are  told  by  the 
scientist  to  give  preference  to  the  verdicts  of 
reason.  To  the  scientist,  the  claims  of  the 
natural  sciences  based  upon  inductive  and 
mathematical  reasoning  are  paramount. 

This  controversy  between  religion  and  science 
began  in  Europe  in  the  sixteenth  century.  In 
England,  Francis  Bacon  (1561-1626)  began  the 
reformation  of  science  and  philosophy.  Gior- 
dano Bruno  (1548-1600)  was  tried  and  sentenced 
to  be  burnt  alive  by  the  Inquisition  at  Rome  in 
1600  for  believing  in  the  Copemican  theory  of 
the  heavens,  and  in  1633  Galileo  was  forced 
by  the  Church  to  retract  his  doctrine  about  the 
earth's  motion  on  its  axis.  Ever  since  that  day 
science  has  established  her  sovereignty  over 
man's  brain,  and  every  day  she  is  consolidating 
her  empire  by  fresh  conquests.  Science  has 
captured  the  outer  forts  of  the  brain,  but  she 


m         THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  43 

has  not  succeeded  in  reducing  the  inner  sanc- 
tuary of  faith. 

This  controversy  between  faith  and  reason  is 
not  new  in  the  history  of  philosophy ;  it  was 
started  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges  and  the 
Indus  many  thousands  of  years  before  the  birth 
of  Christ.  When  the  true  history  of  the  philo- 
sophies of  India  comes  to  be  written  by  her  own 
sons  it  will  open  up  a  new  horizon  of  thought 
before  the  wondering  gaze  of  Western  humanity, 
and  in  that  fairyland  of  metaphysics  the  student 
will  discover  fresh  landscapes  whose  existence 
was  hitherto  unguessed.  An  immense  amount 
of  pioneering  work  has  already  been  done  by  a 
little  band  of  Indian  and  European  savants  who 
have  cut  a  path  through  the  jungle,  bridged  over 
crevasses,  and  made  the  way  smooth  for  yet 
unborn  travellers. 

Still  the  road  which  leads  through  the  forest 
of  Sanscrit  literature  is  overhung  with  a  dense 
gloom  and  requires  to  be  illumined.  This  work 
of  illumination  has  to  be  done  by  none  other 
than  the  children  of  ancient  Ind,  in  whose  veins 
flows  the  blood  of  the  Rishis,  and  who  have 
been  nursed  on  the  breast  of  the  Mother  of  all 
religions.  None  but  the  Yogis  of  India  under- 
stand the  Indian  Darsanas,  for  they  are  the 
perpetual  guardians  of  the  Wisdom  of  the  East. 

These  Yogis,  Rishis,  and  Sannyasins  are  men 
who  are  free  from  all  narrowness  of  religious 
fanaticism  and  national  prejudices ;  they  are 
God's   companions  —  citizens   of   no   state   or 


44  BRA.HMADARSANAM  in 

empire,  but  of  the  universe.  They  stand  out- 
side time  and  are  the  guides  of  humanity. 

Truth  is  one.  We  approach  it  through  di- 
verse ways.  Rehgion  and  science  both  acknow- 
ledge the  unity  of  truth  in  the  abstract;  their 
difference  consists,  first  in  the  enunciation  of 
it,  and  secondly  in  the  recognition  of  the  instru- 
ments of  knowledge.  The  enunciation  of  truth, 
given  by  scientists,  religious  mystics,  and  philo- 
sophers, differs  according  as  their  attention  is 
fixed  on  (1)  the  visible  phenomena,  (2)  the 
invisible  cause  of  visible  phenomena,  or,  again, 
(3)  upon  that  which  is  unrelated  either  to  the 
visible  effect  or  the  invisible  cause. 

In  the  first  case,  Haeckel  (1),  whom  I  take  to 
be  the  representative  of  modern  scientific  mon- 
ism, assumes  the  existence  of  a  "soul-cell"  to  ac- 
count for  the  complex  phenomena  of  intelligence 
and  the  physical  organism.  As  an  illustration 
of  (2)  take  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  who  assumes  the 
existence  of  a  Mind  guiding  the  visible  universe 
without  either  expending  energy  or  coming  into 
contact  with  the  mechanical  order  of  the  uni- 
verse ;  (3)  Hegel,  who  conceived  of  a  pure  Being 
transcendently  unrelated  to  Becoming. 

Thus  the  man  of  science  is  impressed  with 
the  perceptible  order  of  phenomena,  and  to  him 
truth  means  the  co-ordination  of  either  one  phe- 
nomenon with  another,  or  of  a  group  of  them 
with  a  higher  generalisation.  To  arrive  at  this 
generalisation,  he  only  needs  induction,  which 
in  his  hands  has  become  the  most  powerful 


m        THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  45 

instrument  of  knowledge.  Induction  aims  at 
perceiving  similarity  in  the  midst  of  the  diverse 
phenomena  of  nature,  and  this  aim  is  realised 
by  a  means  of  observation  and  experiment, 
guided  by  a  kind  of  guessing  at  the  conclusion 
which  is  called  hypothesis.  This  method  of 
investigation  has  proved  so  successful  in  the 
physical  sciences  that  induction  has  come  to 
be  regarded  as  the  magic  key  to  Nature's  secrets. 
At  the  same  time  the  scientists  accept  nothing 
as  truth  unless  it  is  verified,  therefore  they  draw 
a  line  between  verified  and  unverified  hypoth- 
eses. For  instance,  the  proposition,  oxygen 
supports  animal  life,  is  a  verified  hypothesis. 
In  fact,  all  the  minor  truths  of  chemistry  and 
physics  may  be  regarded  as  verified  hypotheses, 
while  all  the  grander  conceptions  of  science  may 
be  regarded  as  unverified  hypotheses.  For  in- 
stance, the  nature  of  atoms,  the  existence  and 
constitution  of  the  ether,  the  nature  of  energy 
and  the  mystery  of  its  transformation  into  heat, 
light,  and  motion,  the  origin  of  life  and  organism, 
—  these  are  but  a  few  among  many  examples  of 
unverified  hypotheses. 

The  attitude  of  the  scientific  mind  towards 
the  foundations  of  scientific  thought  is  one  of 
indifference.  The  scientist  is  concerned  with 
the  relations  of  phenomena,  not  with  the  deter- 
mination of  the  value  of  that  upon  which  such 
relations  rest ;  thus  he  does  not  think  that  the 
superstructure  of  science  will  fall  to  pieces  if  the 
ground  under  it  is  taken  away.     To  him  it 


46  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

matters  not  if  ether,  matter,  force,  life,  and  mind 
remain  undefined;  for  science  will  progress,  he 
says,  as  long  as  scientific  propositions  are  actu- 
ally verified  to  our  satisfaction.  He  clings  to 
perception  and  mathematical  reasoning,  i.e.  a 
coordination  of  these  two,  continually  checking 
the  one  by  the  other,  a  method  which  forms 
the  essence  of  induction. 

Here  we  see  the  limitation  of  scientific  reason- 
ing, which  consists  in  giving  preference  to  a 
part  over  the  whole  of  human  experience;  why 
one  part  of  experience  should  be  favoured  at 
the  cost  of  all  others  is  never  explained.  The 
scientist  only  believes  in  perception ;  his  belief 
in  inference  is  only  very  partial.  He  has 
supreme  faith  in  facts  which  can  be  demon- 
strated on  the  lecture  table,  but  he  never  waxes 
enthusiastic  over  subjects  which  are  inferred. 
A  strict  scientist  does  not  really  believe  in  ether, 
in  atoms,  or  mind,  or  life ;  and  why  ?  Because 
he  is  not  able  to  produce  them  by  artificial  means 
in  his  laboratory,  and  so  he  dismisses  the  ether 
with  the  remark  that  it  is  a  suitable  idea  to 
work  with !  What  is  most  annoying  is  that  the 
scientist  denotes  as  "real"  the  contents  of  per- 
ception, and  as  "imaginary"  the  contents  of 
other  parts  of  experience.  Viewed  in  this  light, 
not  only  the  fundamental  conception  of  science 
itself,  but  also  the  root  idea  of  religion  and 
philosophy  must  be  labelled  as  "imaginary." 
For  according  to  this  method  of  reasoning,  not 
only  are  our  conceptions  of  God  and  the  im- 


m  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  47 

mortality  of  the  soul  imaginary,  but  also  time, 
space,  causality,  as  well  as  matter,  force,  and 
the  ether. 

It  is  clearly  evident  that  no  sane  person  will 
go  so  far  as  to  deny  everything  that  is  not 
supported  by  the  testimony  of  the  senses ;  for 
sensations  cannot  be  explained  unless  we  assume 
the  existence  of  time,  space,  and  causality,  neither 
can  these  be  explained  unless  we  assume  a  con- 
scious soul ;  after  which  the  assumption  of  the 
relation  of  soul  to  an  eternal  duration  and  an 
eternal  ground  becomes  a  logical  necessity. 

It  is  not  my  desire  to  belittle  Western  science, 
but  what  I  do  assert  is  that  the  scientist  cannot 
claim  that  perception  is  the  only  source  of 
knowledge,  for  that  doctrine  has  been  exploded 
by  many  philosophers,  both  in  ancient  and 
modern  times.  If  universal  truth  be  the  aim 
of  science,  it  follows  that  perception  cannot  be 
the  sole  source  of  knowledge,  for  the  idea  of 
the  Universal  is  the  contribution  of  reason. 
Science  seeks  to  arrange  facts  in  such  a  way  as 
to  conform  to  the  universal  standard,  and  so 
far  as  its  efforts  are  turned  in  this  direction,  it 
cannot  but  confess  that  the  universal  comes  from 
some  other  sphere  than  that  of  the  senses,  and 
if  it  is  not  in  the  senses  it  must  be  in  the  mind. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  reality  of  the  universal 
—  of  which  the  scientist  is  conscious  within  him- 
self —  is  denied,  then  by  what  instrument  is  it 
possible  to  test  the  truth  of  the  results  achieved 
by  his  investigations?       Unless  there  is  the 


48  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

assumption  of  a  universal  standard  of  truth  in 
the  mind  of  the  professor  of  science  as  well  as 
in  that  of  his  pupils,  all  science  will  be  a  chaos, 
the  fantasy  of  a  dream.^ 

This  then  gives  us  a  clue  as  to  how  we  should 
start  in  judging  the  contents  of  our  experience. 
It  shows  that  we  have  to  accept  the  revelations 
of  human  consciousness  in  their  entirety,  or  not 
at  all.  This  consciousness  is  comprehensive 
enough  to  include  our  knowledge  of  the  sensible 
as  well  as  of  the  supersensible ;  it  includes  the 
scientific,  religious,  and  philosophical  experi- 
ences of  man.  All  these  varied  experiences  can 
be  fitted  into  each  other  and  harmonized  with 
the  universal  in  the  human,  for  if  "that  which 
is"  be  really  one  and  indivisible,  there  cannot  be 
any  contradiction  between  one  order  of  experi- 
ence and  another ;  all  that  happens  must  yield 
to  a  rational  interpretation  —  this  is  the  great 
teaching  of  the  Vedanta. 

To  the  conscious  soul  all  is  experience, 
whether  sensuous  or  supersensuous,  positive  or 
mystic,  philosophic  or  logic.  It  is  from  this  high 
altitude  of  the  soul,  as  conscious  and  absolute, 
that  we  have  to  look  upon  the  variety  of  experi- 
ences like  diflFerent  parts  of  a  great  palace  in 
which  each  apartment  bears  some  relation  to 
the  whole,  and  the  plan  of  the  whole  cannot  be 
properly  understood  without  taking  into  con- 
sideration each  separate  room. 

The  trend  of  modern  scientific  speculation  is 

^  See  Appendix. 


m  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  49 

towards  monism.  (1)  It  has  been  said  that 
ether  is  the  source  of  all  power,  that  matter  and 
energy  are  only  different  vibrations  of  that  im- 
ponderable and  ubiquitous  substance,  and  that 
heat,  light,  and  electricity  are  manifestations  of 
the  same.  (2)  It  has  also  been  said  that  "life" 
is  the  source  of  all  —  the  life  that  circulates  in 
animal  and  vegetable  organisms,  and  which, 
although  different  in  quality  from  other  forms 
of  motion  such  as  heat  and  light,  etc.,  also 
possesses  magnetic  and  electrical  properties. 
Life  may  therefore  be  regarded  as  primal  sub- 
stance, and  motion  as  a  secondary  transforma- 
tion of  it.  (3)  Mind  has  also  been  looked  upon 
as  the  original  substance,  life  as  secondary,  and 
force  as  a  tertiary  development  of  mind,  for 
without  mind  it  is  not  possible  to  conceive  of 
either  life  or  force.  Will  is  prior  to  the  muscular 
expenditure  of  energy.  Miiid  is  superior  to  life, 
because  mind  controls  life  and,  through  life, 
energy.  It  is,  in  fact,  impossible  to  conceive 
of  a  primal,  fundamental  substance  without  the 
attributes  of  mind,  life,  and  energy. 

This  is  what  Kapila  taught  when  he  said  that 
Mahat  (Intelligence)  is  the  first  evolution  of  the 
Unmanifested,  and  that  in  Mahat,  sattva  pre- 
dominates over  raja  and  raja  over  tama.  This 
is  scientific  monism;  it  is  also  the  teaching  of 
Herbert  Spencer. 

All  great  philosophical  scientists  have  recog- 
nised the  existence  of  an  original,  universal  sub- 
stance, out  of  which  the  universe  has  evolved. 


60  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

but  the  existence  of  this  substance  cannot  be 
proved  by  perception,  it  can  only  be  imagined. 
Without  imagination,  which  in  this  sense  is 
closely  allied  to  intuition,  or  reason,  it  would  not 
be  possible  to  conjecture  the  existence  of  some- 
thing which  is  prior  to  all  experience,  and  which 
is  the  soul  of  experience.  It  is  this  imagination 
—  call  it  what  you  like  —  which  gives  to  the 
religious  man  his  God,  to  the  philosopher  his 
Absolute,  and  to  the  scientist  his  Substance, 
Energy,  or  Ether.  In  the  Scriptures  of  all 
religions,  intuition  (i.e.  imagination,  reason) 
goes  by  the  name  of  revelation ;  in  philosophy 
it  appears  as  the  synthetic  activity  of  the  soul, 
while  in  science  it  is  called  generalisation ;  but 
in  each  case  it  is  a  vision — a  faculty  of  the  soul. 
When  the  soul  moves  on  the  plane  of  the  In- 
driyas  (senses),  it  sees  the  play  of  the  cosmic  law. 
As  the  soul  rises  higher,  above  the  universe  of 
change  and  motion,  it  sees  the  One  whose  name 
is  Love,  to  dwell  in  Whom  is  to  enjoy  rest  and 
peace.  The  religious  experience  of  humanity 
is  full  of  lessons  to  the  students  of  psychology. 
The  revelation  that  comes  to  us  through  the 
gateway  of  worship  is  much  more  substantial, 
much  more  real  than  that  which  comes  through 
the  avenue  of  the  senses. 

This  idea,  that  the  same  Reality  is  known 
to  poets  and  philosophers,  to  theologians  and 
scientists,  under  different  names,  was  vividly 
realized  by  our  ancient  Rishis.  In  their  yearn- 
ing to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  One  Eternal,  they 


m  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  51 

realised  that  the  truth  of  inner  perception  cannot 
be  uttered  in  words,  hence  each  one  in  the 
endeavour  to  express  Him  will  use  the  word 
which  to  his  mind  is  the  most  closely  associated 
with  all  transcending  attributes  : 

Ekam  sat  Viprah  Bahudha  Vadanti.  Agnim 
Yamam  Matarisvanam  ahuh. 

That  which  exists  is  One.  Sages  call  it  variously 
the  Fire  Substance,  Providence,  the  breathing  in 
Space.^ 

This  is  the  earliest  utterance  of  the  unity  of 
the  Godhead  in  the  history  of  mankind.  All 
monotheistic  religions  and  all  monistic  philo- 
sophies are  mere  ramifications  of  this  central 
thought  of  the  Rishis  of  the  Vedas.  This  idea 
of  One  Truth  was  revealed  to  the  mind  of  the 
ancient  seers  of  India. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  revelation  of 
One  God  was  anterior  to  the  period  of  philo- 
sophical, theological,  or  scientific  speculation. 
In  those  early  days  man's  intuition  was  clearer 
than  it  is  now;  God  breathed  the  Truth  into 
the  soul  of  the  Rishis,  as  it  has  been  beauti- 
fully expressed  in  the  Rig  Veda : 

Anit  avatam  svadhya  tat  ekam,  tasmat  ha  anyat 
na  parah  kim  chana  asa. 

That  One  breathed  breathlessly  by  Itself,  other 
than  It  there  nothing  since  has  been.^ 

A  true  devotee  does  not  require  arguments 
for  the  existence  of  God,  he  trusts  his  intuition. 

^Rig  Veda.  i.  164.  46.  Ubid.  z.  129,  2. 


52  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

To  him  the  knowledge  of  God  is  the  breath  of 
God.  The  reality  of  life  consists  in  its  loving 
dependence  on  God.  How  can  the  glory  of  the 
Beatific  Vision  be  communicated  to  others 
through  the  medium  of  a  string  of  words? 
Words  yield  meaning,  but  not  Reality. 

The  Vedic  Age  is  the  age  of  God-intuition. 
The  many  aspects  of  the  one  God,  seen  through 
the  medium  of  many  moods  of  many  minds,  iare 
to  be  found  in  the  hymns  of  the  Sama  and  Rig 
Vedas.  He  has  been  called  Prajapati,  the  Lord 
of  all  created  beings ;  Visva-Karman,  the  Maker 
of  all ;  Visvadeva,  the  God  of  all.  The  mono- 
theistic religion  of  the  Vedic  Rishis  was  followed 
by  the  monistic  philosophy  of  the  Rishis  of  the 
Upanishads.  The  early  Vedic  Rishis  saw  a 
personal  God  who  is  all-good  and  all-wise  and 
all-powerful  —  "Who  established  the  earth  and 
the  sky,  who  gives  life  and  strength.  Whose 
shadow  is  immortality  and  mortality,  Who  is 
the  sole  King  of  this  breathing,  slumbering 
world.  Whose  greatness  is  reflected  in  the  snowy 
mountains  and  the  seas.  Who  concealed  the 
generating  fire  in  the  sap  of  the  great  waters. 
Who  created  heaven  and  earth,  to  Whom  all 
men  bow  with  trembling  minds,  over  Whom  the 
rising  sun  casts  a  mellow  radiance,  and  Who  is 
the  life  of  bright  gods  and  righteous  men." 
To  this  God  the  Rishis  offered  their  homage 
and  adoration. 

But  philosophical  inquiry  into  the  nature  of 
the  One  God  —  which  appears  to  have  taken 


ni  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  53 

place  in  the  age  succeeding  that  of  monotheistic 
religion  —  led  the  Rishis  of  that  time  to  what  is 
called  philosophical  monism.  In  their  search 
for  God  they  travelled  far  into  the  regions 
of  metaphysical  thought;  and  they  doubted 
whether  the  instrument  of  search  was  competent 
to  yield  any  result.  Nature  is  silent,  she 
never  speaks  of  her  Lord.  The  human  mind  is 
dumb,  it  cannot  tell  us  what  makes  it  think. 
Where,  then,  is  there  any  hope  of  knowing  God  ? 
Yet  even  while  we  doubt,  hope  spontaneously 
whispers  in  our  ears,  bringing  a  message,  as  it 
were,  from  an  Unknown  Friend  in  the  space 
beyond. 

I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  translating 
a  hymn,  in  order  to  show  how  the  soul  of  the 
Rishi  struggled  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  Being 
who  is  beyond  all  thought  and  all  expression. 
Many  scholars  have  confessed  their  inability  to 
comprehend  this  sublime  hymn  to  the  Absolute 
Being,  for  in  it  the  Rishi  tries  to  conceive  of 
God  as  He  is  —  apart  from  creation  and  apart 
from  our  conception  of  Him : 

In  the  beginning  there  was  neither  the  Unreal  nor  the 
Real. 

Were  there  these  spheres  of  light?  Or  the  heavens 
beyond  ? 

What?  and  by  what  enveloped?  Where?  and  for 
whose  enjoyment? 

Was  there  the  primal  Ether,  the  source  and  end  of  all 
that  is  —  deep,  infinite,  immeasurable  ? 

There  was  neither  death  nor  aught  deathless,  nor  dark- 
ness separate  from  light. 


M 


64  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

That  One  alone,  unbreathing,  lived ;  with  It  the  shadowy 

veil   subsisted    (not  Being   nor   non-Being) ;      other 

than  It  there  nothing  was. 
Before  the  birth  of  all  things  this  world  lay  sleeping  in 

the  womb  of  the  Prime  Cause,  like  gloom  in  darkness 

hidden. 
Each  in  the  other  merged,  inseparate  as  sea  from  sea ; 
When  by  the  potent  majesty,  of  Thought,  pulsing  with 

creative  purpose. 
This  single,   self-poised  Whole  from  out  its  shroud  of 

nothingness  broke  forth. 
Ere   yet   all    This   arose,    together   with   the   One    was 

Love; 
And  there  lay  floating  an  inchoate  mass  —  the  seed  of 

life  and  matter  — 
Remnant  of   bygone  creations,   of  hopes   deferred   and 

ends  unrealised. 
(In  the  light  of  their  wisdom,  musing  in  their  hearts, 

thus  have  the  poets  seen  —  loosing  the  Real  from 

its  bond,  the  Unreal.) 
Out  from  them  all  shot  scintillating  lines  of  rays,  all- 
spreading,  swift,  like  cloud-born  fiery  flashes ; 
Whither  flamed  they  forth  ?     Athwart,  above,  below  ? 
Some  were  enjoyers,  seed-showerers  and  reapers  of  the 

harvest ; 
Some,  of  vast  power  and  magnitude,  fields  of  enjoyment ; 
While   some   again   the   substance   were   of   sustenance, 

nourishing  the  fathers  and  the  gods. 
In  order  first  evolved,  and  higher,  —  those  —  these  later 

formed  and  lower. 
Who  then  knows  in  truth .''     Who  here  may  utter  it  ? 
Whence  streams  This  forth.?     This  manifold  of  life  and 

mind,  of  what  composed.''  and  whither  moving? 
The   Devas,    by   the   Word   made   manifest,   after   this 

Bursting-forth  shone  into  being ; 
Who  then  shall  know  whence  This  arose  ? 
Where  had  creation  birth .''     Whether  or  no  upheld  ? 
If  He  uphold  it  not  —  what  mortal  or  immortal  can  ? 


m  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  55 

He  who  is  its  highest  Seer,  in  the  supreme  space  beyond 

as  in  the  inmost  heart  of  all, 
—  Self-luminous,  its  perfect  Life  and  Joy  and  Essence  — 
He  surely  knows  the  whence  and  whither  of  it  all ; 
If  He  know  not  —  what  mortal  or  immortal  knows  ?  ^ 

If  we  study  this  hymn,  which  must  have 
been,  I  will  not  say  composed,  but  revealed  to 
the  Rishi  many  thousands  of  years  ago,  we 
shall  discover  that  it  contains  all  the  funda- 
mental elements  of  the  religious,  philosophic, 
and  scientific  consciousness  of  humanity.  In  the 
first  place,  it  hints  at  the  Absolute  of  philosophy, 
which,  although  beyond  human  thought,  must 
be  retained  as  a  symbol  of  speech  to  denote 
the  Highest,  in  order  that  the  experience  of 
the  relative  may  be  intelligible.  In  the  second 
place,  it  assumes  the  existence,  prior  to  creation, 
of  a  subtle  substance  (called  by  the  Rishi 
*'tamasa,"  darkness),  which  carried  within  itself 
the  seed  of  living  and  inorganic  matter.  Lastly, 
the  poet  shows  the  right  attitude  towards  a 
conception  of  the  Cause  of  the  universe,  viz.  the 
attitude  of  an  open  mind,  when  he  says  that 
philosophers  can  explain  the  process  of  evolu- 
tion, but  not  the  origin  of  the  universe. 

Apart  from  these  considerations,  this  hymn 
strikes  me  as  pointing  to  one  supreme  fact,  viz. 
that  within  the  soul  there  is  a  faculty  which 
you  may  call  intuition,  or  reason,  or  imagination 
(it  is  Pratisya  in  the  original),  which  sees  the 
universe  as  a  whole,  which  sees  the  root  cause 

1  Rig  Veda,  x.  11,  129. 


56  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

of  the  universe,  and  the  Impersonal  God.  All 
the  Darsanas  have  testified  to  the  existence  of 
this  faculty,  and  the  arguments  which  Indian 
philosophers  have  used  —  to  prove  the  existence 
of  God  —  appeal  to  us  so  forcibly  because  of  the 
self-revelation  of  this  faculty  within  ourselves. 
These  arguments,  which  I  am  about  to  pass  in 
review,  only  serve  to  confirm  the  information 
which  we  have  already  received  from  the  light 
of  our  own  souls. 

Kapila  acknowledged  the  existence  of  two 
kinds  of  "free  souls":  the  great  and  small; 
but  he  denied  that  the  great  souls  would  care 
to  create  a  world ;  he  also  denied  the  possibility 
of  proving  the  existence  of  a  creator  of  the 
universe.  This  defect  in  Kapila's  philosophy 
was  supplemented  by  Patanjali  who  taught  a 
theistic  philosophy  also  called  Yoga,  in  which 
he  says  that  there  are  different  grades  of  souls, 
one  class  higher  in  majesty  than  the  other. 
There  is  a  class  of  souls  called  the  Devas  (bright 
ones)  who  are  endowed  with  greater  power  and 
goodness  than  human  beings.  Above  the  Devas 
there  are  still  higher  beings,  and  the  highest  of 
all  in  power,  goodness,  knowledge,  and  holiness 
is  God,  who  is  the  Teacher  of  all  superhuman 
and  human  beings.  Patanjali  claims  that  this 
Divine  Teacher  can  be  seen  in  the  light  of  our  in- 
ward-turned thought,  provided  that  all  the 
impediments  which  stand  betwixt  God  and  man 
are  removed. 

The  idea  of  God  as  a  Teacher  has  found  an 


m         THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN         67 

echo  in  the  heart  of  every  great  thinker,  from 
Plato  downwards.  Who  is  it  who  solves  our 
doubts  and  perplexities  ?  Are  we  not  conscious 
of  an  inner  Monitor  who  chides  us  gently  for 
our  wayward  thoughts  and  leads  us  to  light  and 
truth?  Every  great  poet,  philosopher,  and 
scientist  would  confess  that  the  truth  which 
they  teach  they  found  within,  in  some  way  not 
known  to  themselves. 

Patanjali's  argument  for  the  existence  of  God 
is  not  inferential  but  introspective.  It  is  based 
upon  the  fact  of  our  inner  development  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  Divine.  The  Oversoul  speaks 
to  the  soul,  and  those  who  seek  for  truth  find 
the  answer  in  their  hearts.  There  is  also  another 
and  more  objective  ground  upon  which  this 
argument  rests :  Whence  do  the  prophets  and 
sages  derive  their  knowledge,  and  where  do  they 
go  after  passing  away  from  this  life  ?  We  must 
assume  that  after  learning  all  that  could  be 
learnt  on  this  earth,  these  great  souls  are  still 
progressing  in  virtue  and  wisdom  in  a  higher 
sphere  of  existence.  They  are  there,  sitting  at 
the  feet  of  masters  who  are  greater  than  they, 
imbibing  knowledge,  the  nature  of  which  we 
are  not  able  to  conceive.  Finally,  the  most 
chosen  spirits,  the  super-archangels,  those 
Kumaras,  mind-born  ofiPspring  of  the  Highest, 
are  enjoying  the  glory  of  direct  communion  with 
God.  Thus,  according  to  Patanjali,  God  is  the 
ne  'plus  ultra,  the  highest  height  of  perfection, 
the  most  glorious  light  of  wisdom. 


68  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

Patanjali's  idea  of  God  is  not  that  of  a  world- 
builder,  nor  yet  a  ruler,  but  rather  an  omniscient 
Spirit  who  is  in  touch  with  all  grades  of  spirits. 

Next  to  Patanjali  I  should  mention  Narada, 
whose  argument  in  favour  of  belief  in  the  supreme 
God  is  drawn  from  man's  love  for  Him,  and  His 
love  for  man.  Patanjali  also  says  that  man 
attains  God  through  love.  Narada  taught  that 
the  God-vision  comes  through  complete  self- 
surrender;  man  cannot  but  love  God,  because 
He  is  the  personification  of  love.  He  is  also 
Rasa,  the  soul  of  delight ;  He  is  Satyam  Sivam 
Sundaram,  the  True,  the  Good,  and  the  Beauti- 
ful ;  it  is  the  infinite  beauty  of  God  which  at- 
tracts the  soul  of  man.  Narada  defines  Love  as 
devotion  to  God,  and  he  adds  that  Love  is  im- 
mortal. In  order  to  understand  the  logic  and 
the  psychology  of  this  argument,  we  must  turn 
to  the  great  philosopher  Bharati  Tirtha,  author 
of  the  Panchadasi. 

It  is  a  fact,  he  says,  that  we  love  ourselves. 
Nobody  hates  himself  or  herself;  we  all  take 
care  to  preserve  the  health  of  our  minds  and 
bodies,  and  although  there  are  people  who  wish 
to  die,  and  some  who  commit  suicide,  that  only 
proves  that  they  are  dissatisfied  with  their 
present  condition,  not  that  they  do  not  love 
their  own  selves.  They  want  to  die  because 
they  think  that  by  dying  they  can  escape  from 
misery  or  shame,  and  thereby  save  their  souls 
from  suffering.  Self-love  is  the  motive  of  all 
our  actions.     Why  do  we  love  ourselves?    Or 


Ill  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  59 

rather,  what  is  it  that  we  really  love  ?  We  love 
the  beautiful;  in  the  depths  of  our  hearts  we 
long  to  escape  from  ugliness  and  to  be  with  the 
beautiful.  This  is  true  of  the  kiner  as  of  the 
outer  life.  We  love  the  self  because  it  is  beauti- 
ful. A  man's  mind  may  be  ugly,  his  body  may 
be  deformed,  but  still  he  loves  the  self  which  is 
hidden  behind  the  ego.  Now  we  have  to  con- 
sider why  it  is  that  we  love  the  self;  we  have 
just  said  that  we  love  it  because  it  is  beautiful, 
but  what  does  this  beauty  signify  .5^  It  is  not 
the  beauty  of  colour,  the  beauty  of  harmony, 
for  that  is  not  the  property  of  the  soul.  It  is 
perfection,  it  is  goodness,  it  is  glory,  it  is  Eternity. 
These  are  the  qualities  of  the  Self,  and  Love  is 
immortal  when  it  is  given  to  this  immortal  Self. 
For,  if  you  consider  rightly,  you  will  find  that 
this  self  is  the  reflection  of  the  Supreme  Self, 
and  in  Yoga  the  reflection  lapses  to  its  original 
—  to  God ;  it  goes  back  to  the  palace  of  the 
Father,  and  is  lighted  up  by  His  radiance. 

Such  love  is  equal  to  knowledge  of  the  Divine, 
for  love  tells  of  the  object  upon  which  it  bestows 
its  wealth.  God  is  immeasurable,  because  my 
love  for  Him  is  immeasurable.  The  Vedantins 
say  that  love  for  God  is  God's  love  for  Himself, 
because  in  true  love  there  are  no  longer  two,  but 
only  One,  lost  in  Its  own  light. 

This  is  the  philosophy  upon  which  Narada's 
argument  is  based,  and  he  concludes  by  saying : 
"Being  loved.  He  soon  manifests  Himself  and 
makes  Himself  felt  by  His  worshippers."     Love 


60  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

God  through  duty,  through  worship,  love  Him 
as  His  servant,  as  friend,  as  lover,  as  child,  love 
'Him  through  self-sacrifice  and  through  identifi- 
cation. Let  us  not  be  separated  from  Him  even 
for  so  short  a  time  as  the  twinkling  of  an  eye. 

The  Rishis  used  to  address  God  as  "the  Poet 
of  the  Beautiful"  and  "the  Fountain  of  De- 
light," and  this  is  the  experience  of  all  devotees, 
of  all  worshippers,  and  of  all  mystics.  This  is 
the  universal  testimony  of  religious  conscious- 
ness, and  is  as  valid  as  the  generalisations  of 
science,  or  the  highest  synthesis  of  philosophy. 

Narada  says  that  God  can  be  seen  by  man 
as  an  actual  Presence  when  all  thoughts,  all 
words,  and  all  deeds  are  given  up  unto  Him, 
and  when  the  least  forgetfulness  of  Him  makes 
one  intensely  miserable  —  for  then  love  has 
begun. 

Gotama  was  the  father  of  Indian  logic.  It 
is  not  known  when  he  lived,  but  there  is  no  doubt 
that  he  flourished  thousands  of  years  before 
Gautama  the  Buddha.  His  argument  is  well 
known  among  Indian  thinkers :  he  said  that 
it  was  impossible  to  prove  the  existence  of  the 
Deity  by  means  of  arguments  based  on  percep- 
tion, inference,  and  revelation.  Perception  is 
useless,  because  God  is  without  form  and  is 
therefore  beyond  the  reach  of  the  senses.  In- 
ference cannot  prove  Him,  because  there  is  no 
universal  middle  term  which  can  serve  to  link 
up  the  conclusion  with  the  data  of  perception ; 
nor  can  revelation  prove  Him,  because,  accord- 


Ill  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  61 

ing  to  Gotama,  the  Scriptures  are  not  co-eternal 
with  God. 

But  if  the  three  instruments  of  knowledge, 
viz.  perception,  inference,  and  revelation,  are  of 
no  use,  how  then  can  we  assert  His  existence? 
To  this  he  replies  that  the  world  is  an  effect  and 
must  therefore  have  a  cause,  for  nothing  can  be 
produced  from  nothing.  God,  in  Whose  Person 
are  combined  omnipotence  and  omniscience,  is 
the  cause  of  the  world.  There  cannot  be  any 
question  as  to  the  cause  of  God,  because  He  is 
Self -caused  and  Eternal.  Why  does  God  create  ? 
Because  of  His  compassion.  Gotama  has  used 
another  argument.  Every  act  of  man,  he  says, 
produces  its  result,  not  by  itself  but  through 
the  superintendence  of  God.  For  instance,  how 
can  the  virtuous  deeds  of  a  man  be  rewarded, 
and  the  vicious  ones  punished,  unless  God  con- 
joins the  former  with  reward  and  the  latter  with 
punishment  ?  The  effect  of  moral  and  immoral 
action  must  be  guided  by  an  All-holy  and  im- 
partial Judge. 

A  law  is  made  by  a  law-giver  and  enforced 
by  a  judge  —  so  the  moral  law  of  retribution  is 
enforced  by  the  Divine  Governor  of  the  world. 
Gotama  points  out  that  all  mankind  agree  in 
making  a  distinction  between  things  real  and 
eternal  and  things  unreal  and  non-eternal.  If 
this  distinction  were  not  observed  there  would 
be  an  end  of  truth  and  untruth.  Gotama 
teaches  that  as  God  only  is  real  and  eternal,  the 
eternal  truth  of  all  our  thought  and  being,  so 


62  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

we  must  please  Him  by  doing  our  duty,  and  then 
through  His  mercy  we  shall  attain  the  salvation 
of  our  souls. 

There  is  reason  to  believe  that  Aristotle 
derived  his  idea  of  God  as  the  Unmoved  Mover 
of  the  Universe  from  Gotama.  Like  Gotama, 
he  believes  that  God  is  not  so  much  the  builder 
as  the  governor  of  the  world,  because,  according 
to  both  Gotama  and  Aristotle,  atoms  are  eternal. 
Gotama's  argument  arises  from  an  inner  necessity 
of  thought  which  compels  him  to  see  in  Nature 
the  working  of  an  all-knowing  Mind  and  Will. 

I  will  now  conclude  this  lecture  by  explaining 
Sankara's  arguments  for  the  existence  of  God. 
Sankara  is  an  uncompromising  monist,  for  whom 
there  exists  but  One  Truth,  One  Reality.  The 
world  has  no  existence  at  all  by  the  side  of 
Brahman;  but  for  all  practical  purposes  we 
seemingly  believe  that  it  exists,  and  for  creating 
the  world  a  Creator  is  necessary.  What  is 
God's  motive  in  creating  the  world?  We  can- 
not ascribe  any  motive  to  God,  for  that  would 
limit  His  self -completeness ;  neither  can  we  say 
that  He  had  no  motive,  for  then  creation  would 
be  impossible.  What  can  we  say,  then,  about 
His  motive  in  creation?  Sankara's  answer  is 
that  God  created  the  world  without  any  motive, 
purely  for  sport,  just  as  a  prince,  or  some  rich 
man,  who  has  all  that  he  requires,  undertakes 
to  do  something  purely  for  sport  and  pastime. 
This  is  called  lild,  or  the  sport  theory  of  creation. 

To  the  objection  that  God,  as  Creator  of  the 


Ill         THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN         63 

world,  is  responsible  for  all  the  evil  in  it,  Sankara 
answers  that  God  does  not  act  arbitrarily.  He 
acts  with  a  view  to  bring  about  the  fulfilment  of 
what  each  man  has  done  in  a  previous  birth ; 
the  world  is  a  place  where  the  soul  passes  through 
experiences  according  to  its  merits  or  demerits 
in  a  previous  life.  The  body  is  a  plant  which 
grows  up  from  the  seed  and  dies  —  but  not  com- 
pletely, something  is  left  behind,  and  the  seed 
which  is  strewn  in  the  soil  of  nescience  brings 
forth  another  plant.  This  seed  is  the  soul's 
Karma  (works) .  The  new  birth  varies  according 
to  the  quality  of  the  seed ;  happiness  and  misery 
depend  upon  the  form  of  birth.  In  the  growth 
of  the  plant  from  the  seed,  God's  influence  may 
be  compared  to  the  influence  of  rain  which  causes 
the  plant  to  shoot,  while  the  outward  growth 
depends  upon  atmospheric  conditions,  such  as 
heat,  light,  moisture,  etc.;  but  the  future  of 
plants  depends,  not  upon  outward  conditions, 
but  upon  the  nature  of  the  seed  itself  —  the 
seed  of  wheat  brings  forth  wheat,  the  seed  of 
mustard  brings  forth  mustard,  and  so  on. 

This  idea  of  God's  relation  to  the  world  pre- 
supposes the  assumption  that  the  world,  and 
the  souls  in  it,  are  beginningless  and  endless. 
But  the  whole  of  this  argument  applies  only  to 
the  world  of  Maya,  i.e.  the  world  of  form  and 
movement  which  only  exists  in  what  is  called 
Avidya,  ignorance.  With  the  passing  away  of 
Avidya,  nothing  remains  but  true  God. 

It  is  not  possible  to  understand  these  argu- 


64  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

ments  of  Patanjali,  Gotama,  Narada,  and  Sankara 
unless  they  are  studied  and  compared  with  their 
teachings  on  all  other  subjects.  I  do  not  think 
they  would  have  appealed  to  the  minds  of  the 
last  generation  of  men  and  women,  whose  under- 
standings were  perverted  by  the  philosophy  of 
positivism,  whose  moral  senses  were  blunted  by 
the  utilitarian  school,  and  whose  tastes  were 
corrupted  by  the  doctrine  of  realism  in  art, 
poetry,  and  literature.  But  at  present  there  are 
signs  of  a  new  age,  the  heralding  of  another 
dawn,  when  we  may  hope  to  see  the  renaissance 
of  Idealism  in  a  return  to  faith  and  knowledge 
in  religion,  to  self-renunciation  and  fraternity  in 
morals,  and  to  symbolism  in  art  and  literature. 
Already  there  are  signs  of  these  on  the  horizon 
of  the  West.  Let  us  hope  for  great,  noble,  and 
mighty  things  of  the  soul. 

The  Darsanas  are  eyes  through  which  we  see 
the  Truth.  All  the  arguments  which  have  been 
advanced  to  prove  the  existence  of  the  Deity 
are  but  so  many  attempts  to  express  in  words 
that  which  we  all  feel  within  to  be  the  only 
Truth.  One  aspect  of  the  One  is  expressed  in 
science,  while  the  other  is  embodied  in  the  psalms 
and  hymns  of  religion.  In  the  Gitd  we  find  the 
highest  synthesis  of  religion  and  science;  in  it 
Sri  Krishna  teaches  that  the  Presence  of  the 
Divine,  of  which  the  worshipper  becomes  con- 
scious in  prayer,  is  none  other  than  what  is 
known  as  the  Ultimate,  or  the  Absolute,  or  the 
Unmanifested,  in  philosophy  and  science. 


Ill  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  65 

Some  men  by  meditation,  using  contemplation 
upon  the  Self,  behold  the  Spirit  within,  others 
attain  to  that  end  by  scientific  and  philosophical 
speculation,  and  others,  again,  by  the  practice  of 
virtue  and  service  of  humanity. 

In  the  case  of  those  who  are  not  learned  but 
have  heard  about  Him  from  others,  who  cleave 
unto  Him  and  worship  Him ;  even  these,  if  assidu- 
ous only  upon  tradition  and  attentive  to  hearing 
the  Scriptures,  —  even  these  pass  beyond  the  gulf  of 
death.^ 

I  think  that  the  aim  of  science  is  to  become 
philosophy,  the  aim  of  philosophy  is  to  become 
religion,  the  aim  of  religion  is  to  seek  God,  and 
thus  the  aim  of  humanity  is  to  become  Divine. 
The  mind  of  man  is  endeavouring  to  find  its 
source  through  many-sided  activities  and  specula- 
tions— all  of  which  are  different  ways  of  worship. 

The  progress  of  the  soul  has  been  beautifully 
illustrated  by  Bhagavan  Ramakrishna  in  a 
parable.  A  poor  man  once  met  a  Sannyasin  and 
asked  him  where  he  could  get  some  wood.  The 
Sannyasin  replied,"  Go  ahead !"  The  man  acted 
accordingly,  and  found  some  dry  wood  which  he 
gathered  together,  sold  in  the  market,  and  got 
some  money.  After  some  time  he  remembered 
the  Sannyasin's  advice  and  went  out  again,  but 
this  time  a  little  farther  into  the  depths  of  the 
forest,  and  there  he  discovered  an  iron  mine : 
he  soon  became  very  rich  by  selling  iron  ore. 
After  a  little  while  he  thought  he  would  go  a 

^  Bhagaoad  Gitd,  xiii.  24,  i5. 


66  BRAHMADARSANAM  m 

little  farther  on  the  other  side  of  the  hill  and 
see  what  he  could  find  there.  The  result  of  this 
expedition  was  the  discovery  of  a  gold  mine. 
After  the  lapse  of  many  years  he  thought  that 
he  would  try  again  and  discover  something  yet 
more  precious.  He  did  so;  the  result  was  a 
diamond  mine,  and  he  became  a  millionaire. 

This  is  also  the  case  with  the  soul.  Man's 
first  curiosity  is  to  know  the  secrets  of  nature, 
and  the  result  of  this  investigation  is  science. 
Then  he  begins  to  wonder  about  his  own  mind  — 
the  knowing  power  which  he  has  within  himself 
—  and  he  discovers  philosophy.  Very  soon  he 
becomes  dissatisfied,  both  with  science  and  with 
philosophy,  which  appear  to  his  advanced  mind 
as  mere  toys.  Then  it  is  that  he  longs  to  dis- 
cover his  soul.  Religion  is  knowledge  of  the 
soul ;  and  here  he  rests,  for  the  real  soul  is  the 
real  God.  Nothing  but  the  true  Reality  can 
give  us  rest  and  peace. 

This  God-knowledge  is  man's  salvation. 
Every  day  science  is  progressing  towards  God- 
knowledge.  The  visions  of  the  ancient  Rishis — 
the  prophets  of  India  —  have  been  re-echoed  in 
the  works  of  Wordsworth,  Tennyson,  Browning, 
Whitman,  and  Edward  Carpenter.  The  Akasa 
and  Agni  of  the  Vedas  have  risen  again  from  the 
ashes  of  time  and  have  been  made  familiar  to 
us  as  Ether  and  Electricity  by  Thompson  and 
Crookes.  The  recent  utterances  of  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge  on  "Life  as  a  guiding  principle"  carry  us 
back  to  the  ancient  Indian  conception  of  Prana. 


Ill  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  67 

The  animating  principle  or  the  vital  spark 
within  the  physiology  of  animals  possesses  so 
many  wonderful  characteristics  that  we  can  in 
no  way  understand  its  function  in  terms  of 
matter  and  force.  The  central  idea  of  life  is 
forethought,  which  Lodge  happily  calls  "guid- 
ance." By  its  very  nature  Hfe  seeks  to  guide 
and  control,  not  only  its  immediate  envelope, 
the  body,  but  also  its  greater  environment, 
the  powers  of  nature.  It  can  by  its  own  nature 
produce  as  much  change  on  matter  (and  this 
for  its  own  sake)  as  sunlight  on  a  photographic 
plate,  or  radium  emanation  on  gas. 

This  conception  of  life  as  a  guiding  principle 
and  not  as  a  physical  force  was  understood  many 
centuries  ago  by  the  Rishis,  as  will  be  seen  from 
the  following  passage : 

Sa  yatha  prayogya  acharane  yukta  ebam  eba 
yam  asmin  sarire  prano  yuktah. 

As  an  agent  behaves  for  him  who  appoints  him, 
so  life  guides  the  psycho-physical  organism.^ 

Life  in  this  passage  is  not  considered  as  a 
physical  force,  but  as  a  directing  agency  guiding 
the  material  forces  of  the  body,  as  will  be  seen 
from  Sankara*s  commentary,  where  he  remarks 
"that  as  a  car  is  drawn  by  horses  or  by  oxen,  or 
as  a  superintendent,  appointed  by  a  king,  leads 
the  various  servants  of  the  state,  so  life  controls 
the  functions  of  the  senses  and  organs,  and 
guides  them  to  enjoy  the  results  of  an  action." 

^  Upanishad,  Chhandogya,  viii.  12,  3. 


68  BRAHMADARSANAM  iii 

The  new  world  is  coming  round  to  the  wisdom 
of  the  old.  Science  is  no  longer  atheistic  as  it  is 
popularly  believed  to  be  by  those  who  have  not 
kept  themselves  in  touch  with  the  changed  out- 
look of  modern  scientific  thought.  No  one 
realises  more  the  immensity  of  the  Power  behind 
nature,  or  feels  more  the  inadequacy  of  thought 
and  language  to  express  it,  than  does  the  true 
scientist.  No  one  feels  the  humiliation  of  the 
pride  of  intellect  more  than  did  that  greatest 
representative  of  science  in  our  era,  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  when  he  said :  "I  have  been  but  as  a 
child  playing  on  the  seashore ;  now  finding  some 
pebble  rather  more  polished,  and  now  some  shell 
rather  more  agreeably  variegated  than  another, 
while  the  immense  ocean  of  truth  extended  it- 
self unexplored  before  me." 

The  real  scientist  does  not  deny  God  although 
he  is  silent  about  Him. 

Once  a  philosopher  went  to  see  a  mystic. 
They  sat  side  by  side  without  speaking,  and 
when  they  parted  the  mystic  said  to  the  philo- 
sopher, "I  feel  all  you  think,"  and  the  philo- 
sopher replied,  "I  cannot  even  think  all  that 
you  feel." 

It  is  recorded  that  on  one  occasion  Ruskin 
paid  a  visit  to  Carlyle,  and  they  spent  the  whole 
afternoon  together  without  exchanging  a  single 
word,  yet  on  parting  the  two  friends  shook  one 
another  warmly  by  the  hand,  saying,  "What 
a  glorious  afternoon  we  have  spent  together  ! " 

We  can  listen  to  God  in  silence.     One  of  His 


ra  THEISM:  GOD  AND  MAN  69 

names  in  Sanscrit  is  Nirab,  the  Silent.  And  it 
sometimes  seems  to  me,  when  I  watch  the 
heavens  in  the  silence  of  the  night,  as  if  the  stars, 
in  the  profound  silence  of  space,  were  listening 
to  the  eternal  music  of  the  Divine. 


bibliography/ 

Narada  Bhakti  Sutra. 

Panchadasi,  i.  8-13,  xii.  23-30. 

Tarkasamgraha,  xvii. 

Nyaya  Sutra. 

Brahma  Sutra,  i.  4,  23-27. 

Sariraka,  p.  490. 

Ramkrishna  Kathamrta  (translated  as  "The  Gospel  of 

Sri  Ramakrishna"). 
Chhandogya  Upanishad. 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  Works,  especially  "Life  and  Matter," 

p.  134. 
Atharva  Veda,  ii.  2-24,  1-16. 
Sandilya  Sutra. 
Rig  Veda,  x.  82,  3 ;     x.  129,  1 ;  i.  59,  1 ;  ill.  53,  8 ;  i.  168, 

20 ;   X.  72,  5  ;   v.  62,  8 ;   i.  89,  10 ;   x.  90,  6  ;   iii.  17,  4 ; 

vi.  7,  4;   vii.  4,  6;   i.  31,  7;   vi.  9,  5-6;   vi.  8,  3;   vi. 

7,7;  iii.  20,  4. 


IV 

MONISM:    MAN    AS    ASPECT   OF    THE 
DIVINE 

Aspects  of  consciousness  —  Religious  systems  without  a  God  — 
Philosophy  of  relation  —  R&manuja's  qualified  monism. 

The  function  of  philosophy,  strictly  speaking, 
is  the  formulation  of  the  relation  between  con- 
sciousness and  the  object  presented  to  it.  What 
consciousness  is  in  itself  is  indescribable,  for 
the  subject  of  consciousness  cannot  know  itself 
without  objectification.  In  the  Upanishads 
the  personal  aspect  of  consciousness  has  been 
named  Jnata,  or  the  knower,  one  who  knows ; 
while  the  non-personal  aspect  is  called  Jneya, 
the  object  known ;  and  the  middle  term  —  that 
which  connects  Jnata  (subject)  with  Jneya 
(object)  —  is  termed  Jnana,  knowledge.  The 
field  of  consciousness  is  trisected  into  (1)  the 
knowing  mind,  (2)  the  presentation,  and  (3)  the 
process  of  knowing.  To  use  an  illustration  from 
the  physical  universe  :  the  picture  on  the  wall  is 
the  Jneya  (presentation),  the  light  in  the  room 
is  the  Jnana  (knowledge),  and  my  eyes  are  the 

70 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE        71 

counterpart  of  Jnata  (knower).  Of  these  three, 
the  eyes  can  see  the  picture  and  the  light,  but 
the  eyes  cannot  see  themselves.  Similarly,  if 
you  apply  this  imagery  to  the  mind,  you  will 
understand  that  consciousness  can  comprehend 
the  presentation  (Jneya)  as  well  as  the  middle 
term  (Jnana),  but  not  the  Jnata  (subject).  As 
Yajnavalkya  says,  "How  can  you  see  the  seer 
of  seeing,  how  can  you  hear  the  hearer  of  hearing, 
how  can  you  understand  the  understander  of 
understanding?"  The  nature  of  the  knower 
is  unintelligible.  At  the  same  time  we  can 
predicate  two  attributes :  first,  that  it  exists, 
and  secondly,  that  its  nature  is  knowledge.  The 
most  mysterious  point  about  the  subject  is  that, 
as  Sankara  says,  it  can  know  other  things,  but 
it  cannot  make  itself  the  object  of  its  own  know- 
ledge. I,  who  know,  can  never  be  my  object, 
for  in  that  case  it  ceases  to  be  of  the  nature  of 
the  subject.  Hence  the  Rishis  used  to  say, 
"It  is  different  from  what  is  known.  It  is  also 
beyond  what  is  not  known."  This  principle  of 
consciousness,  this  knower,  this  seer,  is  also 
called  Aksharam,  the  Imperishable. 

"This  Imperishable  is  seeing,  not  seen; 
hearing,  not  heard ;  understanding,  not  under- 
stood; knowing,  not  known;  for  outside  It, 
there  is  no  seer ;  outside  It,  there  is  no  hearer ; 
outside  It,  there  is  none  with  understanding; 
outside  It,  there  is  none  with  knowledge.  He 
who  knows  not  this  Imperishable,  O  Gargi,  is 
miserable."     This   was   taught   to   Gargi,   the 


i 


X 


72  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

daughter  of  Vacaknu,  by  Yajnavalkya.  This  is 
Aksharam ;  this  Imperishable  is  the  alpha  and 
omega  of  the  Upanishads.  Let  us  call  it  the 
consciousness  of  the  Absolute. . 

In  the  language  of  the  Chhandogya  Upani- 
shad,  this  is  to  be  sought  in  the  Dahar  Akasa  — 
in  the  inner  space  within  the  lotus  chamber  of 
the  heart.  Like  a  man  standing  on  a  piece  of 
ground  under  which  a  treasure  lies  buried,  but 
ignorant  of  what  is  hidden  there,  so  the  intellect 
is  unconscious  of  this  Imperishable  upon  which 
it  stands. 

Descartes  had  a  faint  glimpse  of  this  Aksha- 
ram when  he  uttered  the  profound  philosophical 
principle,  Cogito  ergo  sum,  *'I  think,  therefore 
I  exist,"  This  is  also  what  Spinoza  meant  by 
Being  —  single,  infinite,  and  beyond  which  there 
is  no  being  —  something  eternal  and  infinite  — 
love  which  would  fill  the  mind  with  joy  and  joy 
alone.  This  is  also  the  Neo-Platonic  conception 
of  God  as  the  Absolute  One,  Unity  beyond  all 
difference,  to  which  no  predicates  can  be  at- 
tached, of  which  nothing  can  be  affirmed  or  ex- 
pressed. He  is  neither  consciousness  nor  uncon- 
sciousness, neither  freedom  nor  unfreedom,  for 
all  such  opposites  pertain  to  the  realm  of  finite 
things.  He  gives  life,  yet  Himself  lives  not.  He 
is  all  and  the  negation  of  all. 

Even  when  we  name  Him  *'the  One"  we 
must  exclude  any  thought  of  numerical  unity, 
for  that  contains  the  idea  of  multiplicity.  Only 
by  negation  can  we  define  Him.     He  is  in- 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE        73 

expressible,  for  all  speech  names  some  definite 
thing.  He  is  incomprehensible,  for  all  thought 
distinguishes  between  itself  and  its  objects.  If 
we  would  grasp  Him,  it  is  only  by  an  act  of 
intuition  in  which  the  mind  rises  above  thought 
and  becomes  one  with  its  object.  This  is  the 
teaching  of  Plotinus. 

This  consciousness  of  the  Absolute  is  beyond 
the  sphere  of  psychology,  cosmology,  and  episte- 
mology,  though  it  is  the  common  ground  of  them 
all  as  well  as  that  of  religion,  ethics,  and  the 
natural  sciences ;  for  theAbsolute  cannot  be 
proved,  as  it  is  the  basis  (Asraya)  of  the  act  of 
proving.  Consequently  it  is  self-evident  and 
true  beyond  all  proof.  Neither  can  it  be  denied  : 
that  which  is  foreign  to  our  nature  can  be  denied, 
but  that  which  is  our  own  being  cannot  be 
denied.  As  Sankara  says:  "When  it  is  said, 
it  is  I  who  now  know  what  at  present  exists,  it 
is  I  who  knew  the  past,  it  is  I  who  will  know  the 
future,  it  is  implied  in  these  words  that  even 
when  the  object  of  knowledge  alters,  the  knower 
does  not  alter  —  for  he  is  in  the  past,  present, 
and  future,  for  his  essence  is  eternally  present" 
(sarvada  vartamana  svabhavatvad).  Or,  as  the 
Taittiriya  Upanishad  says : 

He  is  but  non-existent  who  knows  Brahman  as  non- 
existent, 

He  who  knows  Brahman  as  Existent  becomes  himself 
by  this  Existent. 

The  Absolute  becomes  the  Personal  God  of 
religion.    Our  religious  experience  is  not  original, 


74  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

but  is  derived  from  the  Self-evident  Absolute. 
God,  as  the  expression  is  understood  by  the 
worshipper,  is  a  Presence  which  is  objective  to 
him.  The  word  prayer  impHes  a  presentation 
of  love  or  petition  to  another  who  is  higher  and 
greater.  Just  as  without  self-cognition  there 
cannot  be  the  cognition  of  the  world,  so  without 
the  consciousness  of  the  Absolute  Brahman 
there  cannot  be  any  knowledge  of  the  Isvara,  or 
Personal  God. 

As  Kapila  derives  Mahat  (the  great  Under- 
standing) from  Avyakta  (the  Unmanifested)  by 
a  process  of  metaphysical  dialectic,  so  the  Rishis 
of  the  Vedas  got  the  knowledge  of  Isvara  from 
their  intuition  of  Brahman.  It  shows  the  transi- 
tion of  the  mind  from  the  Universal  to  the 
Individual,  from  Being  to  Becoming,  from  that 
which  is  to  that  which  does,  and  from  theoretical 
knowledge  to  practical  worship.  In  the  Upani- 
shads,  the  Absolute  Brahman  is  described  as 
without  differences  (visesha),  attributes  (guna), 
limitations  (upadhi),  and  forms  (akara).  This 
Absolute  stands  opposed  to  the  demands  of  our 
empirical  knowledge  as  well  as  of  exoteric 
theology.  Empirical  knowledge  concerns  itself 
with  the  phenomenal  universe,  and  exoteric 
theology  busies  itself  with  worship  (upasana), 
and  the  relation  of  God  to  the  act  of  creation, 
by  bringing  the  Godhead  under  an  intelligible 
form.  From  this  you  must  not  conclude  that 
the  Rishis  teach  the  existence  of  two  Gods — one 
Absolute  and  the  other  relative,  one  attribute- 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         75 

less  and  the  other  with  attributes,  one  im- 
personal and  the  other  personal.  No,  far  from 
it,  they  are  never  tired  of  emphasising  the 
existence  of  the  one  and  only  God,  so  much  so 
that  they  say  that  God  is  the  only  true  Reality, 
and  that  beside  Him  there  is  nothing  else  to 
which  reality  can  be  ascribed,  not  even  man  or 
nature. 

For  what  reason,  then,  do  they  make  a  dis- 
tinction ?  The  distinction  is  inevitable  for  three 
reasons  :  (1)  owing  to  the  construction  of  human 
intelligence ;  (2)  owing  to  the  different  levels  of 
spiritual  perception  in  different  persons;  and 
(3)  on  account  of  the  nature  of  human  language 
through  which  thought  and  experience  are  forced 
to  express  themselves. 

In  a  community  of  perfect  beings,  endowed 
with  perfect  understanding,  God,  who  is  the 
perfection  of  truth,  would  appear  to  be  the 
same.  To  the  free  beings  (Mukta  purushas) 
who  are  sometimes  called  the  impersonal  souls 
(Amanava  purushas)  who  do  not  require  the  aid 
of  language  to  express  their  feelings  —  to  them 
the  distinction  between  the  Absolute  and  the 
relative  would  be  meaningless.  But  on  our 
plane,  so  long  as  there  exists  diversity  of  thought, 
and  diversity  of  inclination  and  action,  the  Ideal, 
revealed  in  our  experiences,  will  emerge  shaped 
and  coloiu*ed  by  the  idiosyncrasies  of  our  speech, 
our  brains,  our  standpoints,  and  the  culture  of 
the  age  in  which  we  live.  Thus  we  find  that 
the  philosophic-minded  Yajnavalkya  expressed 


76  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

his  intuition  by  Aksharam  (the  negation  of  all 
that  changes),  by  Amritam  (the  negation  of 
all  that  dies),  and  the  worshipping  heart  of 
Ramanuja  called  Him  the  embodiment  of  all 
good  and  perfect  qualities  (kalyangunakara, 
niravadya),  and  the  scientific  brain  of  Kapila 
conceived  Him  as  the  Avyakta  (Unmanifested 
source  of  Nature).  Consciousness,  when  it  is  in 
itself,  perceives  its  identity  with  the  Absolute. 
There  is  then  no  distinction  between  subject  and 
object ;  but  when  it  is  individualised,  it  becomes 
trisected  into  subject,  knowledge,  and  object. 
In  its  state  of  individuality  it  stands  confronted 
by  Creator  and  creation,  the  latter  dependent 
on  the  former.  Religious  experience  is  essenti- 
ally triangular  —  perfect  God,  imperfect  man, 
and  the  offerings  of  worship. 

What  are  the  contents  of  religious  conscious- 
ness.'^ In  order  to  examine  the  contents  of 
religious  consciousness,  we  must  analyse  the 
condition  of  our  minds  when  we  are  in  a  worship- 
ping mood.  In  order  to  draw  a  scientific  con- 
clusion we  must  examine  all  varieties  of  religious 
experience  among  the  worshippers  of  all  nations. 
For  this  purpose  it  will  be  convenient  to  examine 
three  classes  of  minds : 

(1)  Those  who  meditate  on  the  essential  iden- 
tity of  the  Eternal  Spirit  with  the  finite  soul. 

(2)  Those  who  recognise  the  similarity  in 
essence  of  God  and  man,  at  the  same  time 
noticing  a  difference  between  the  two  in  quality, 
in  power  and  holiness ;  and 


IV,       MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE        77 

(3)  Those  who  believe  that  there  is  no  point 
of  similarity  between  God  and  man,  and  who  pray 
to  God  for  protection,  worldly  prosperity,  etc. 

These  three  classes  are  known  in  India  as  the 
Advaitins,  the  Visistadvaitins,  and  the  Dvaitins. 
The  experience  of  the  Advaitins,  at  the  time  of 
worship,  is  expressed  by  such  words  as  profound 
quiet,  surpassing  peace,  and  eternal  joy.  They 
come  out  from  the  sanctuary  of  the  soul  with 
faces  shining  with  the  light  of  peace.  The 
experience  of  the  Visistadvaitins  is  of  the 
emotional  character  of  those  who  have  met 
their  Beloved,  to  whom  worship  implies  the 
exchange  of  loving  greetings.  The  experience 
of  the  Dvaitins  is  like  that  of  a  child  when  he 
gets  the  toy  he  wants  from  his  mother;  their 
worship  is  purely  egoistic,  prompted  by  the 
wants  of  their  mortal  nature,  and  they  are 
satisfied  when  these  are  fulfilled.  In  the  case 
of  the  first,  God  appears  as  an  intuitive  flash  of 
Truth ;  in  the  second,  as  a  lovable  Personality ; 
and  in  the  third,  as  a  benefactor,  or  provider. 
But  nowhere  does  He  emerge  in  the  religious 
consciousness  of  man  in  the  role  of  creator. 

The  idea  of  God  as  the  creator  of  the  universe 
finds  no  support  either  from  the  religious  ex- 
perience of  seers,  saints,  or  mystics,  nor  yet  from 
philosophy  and  science.  Meister  Eckhart  says 
the  Godhead  does  not  work,  neither  does  it 
create.  It  is  evident  that  we  cannot  regard 
*' Nature,  red  in  tooth  and  claw,"  as  the  handi- 
work of  God,  for  Nature  is  full  of  blemishes. 


78  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

neither  would  the  supposition  explain  the 
entrance  of  pain  and  evil  into  the  world.  The 
idea  of  God  as  creator  belongs,  properly  speak- 
ing, not  to  actual  worship  and  communion 
(upasana),  but  to  exoteric  theology,  popular 
mythology,  and  pictorial  cosmology.  We  see 
God  only  in  spirit,  never  in  nature;  those  who 
try  to  approach  Him  by  way  of  Nature  fail  to 
find  Him  and  turn  agnostic.  This  is  the  psycho- 
logy of  modern  agnosticism.  To  us,  God  is  a 
Presence,  an  influence,  an  intuition,  and  so  far 
religious  experience  is  valid.  The  experience  of 
Upakosala,  who  realised  Him  in  worship,  con- 
firms this : 

"Brahman  is  Life,  Brahman  is  joy,  Brahman 
is  amplitude.  He  is  love's  treasure,  for  He  is  a 
treasure  of  what  is  dear,  who  know  this.  He  is 
the  Prince  of  Love,  the  Herald  of  Love ;  He  is 
a  Prince  of  Radiance." 

These  words  point  to  "that  mind  of  mind," 
"the  apple  of  the  eye,"  to  "that  Immense,  a 
Unity  high  above  space,  unchanging,  great,  and 
the  Immortal." 

If  thou  art  in  search  of  Life's  wisdom  meditate  upon 

Him: 
Use  not  many  words,  they  are  but  weariness  of  mind.^ 

The  effect  of  such  God-vision  on  the  life  and 
conduct  is  marvellous.  No  man  who  has  not 
seen  God  in  his  self  is  moral.  Spiritual  ex- 
perience stamps  its  glory  on  character.     He  who 

*  Upanishada. 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         79 

has  seen  God  is  "calm,  subdued,  resigned, 
patient,  and  collected ;  in  his  own  Self  only  he 
beholds  God  —  he  beholds  all  as  God ;  evil  doth 
not  overcome  him,  he  burns  all  evil ;  free  from 
evil,  free  from  passion  and  free  from  doubt,  he 
becomes  a  Brahmana  —  he  whose  world  is  the 
Brahman." 

Brahman,  God,  and  Moral  Ideal  are  the 
different  names,  aspects,  modes  of  the  same 
Truth,  the  reality  of  which  is  felt  in  different 
states  of  the  mind.  The  Self  of  man  is  the 
Whole  —  resembling  concentric  circles  —  the 
outermost  of  which  is  the  Brahma-conscious- 
ness (Absolute),  while  the  innermost  is  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  Moral  Ideal,  and  between  the 
two  the  consciousness  of  the  Personal  God. 


The  Self  is  an  ever- widening  circle  containing 
layers  of  consciousness  —  space  within  space  — 
the  difference  between  one  space  and  another 
being  only  a  matter  of  conventional  thought. 
These  spaces  are  sometimes  described  as  super- 


( 


80  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

consciousness,  normal  consciousness,  and  sub- 
consciousness, but  these  terms  are  misleading 
because  they  imply  physical  and  spatial  ideas  of 
above  and  below,  inner  and  outer,  which  do  not 
exist  in  the  case  of  the  spirit.  In  the  super- 
conscious  state,  the  Self  sees  the  identity  of  its 
Being  with  Perfection,  of  Truth  with  Reality, 
and  of  Intelligence  with  Joy.  But  in  the  state 
of  God-consciousness,  one  self  is  in  a  special 
attitude  towards  another  Self  —  i.e.  God.  The 
attitude  is  one  of  humility,  of  love,  of  adoration. 
Moral  consciousness  is  an  active  state  of  the  will, 
guided  by  the  inner  light  of  conscience. 

The  Rishis  gave  the  name  of  Rita  (Right)  to 
the  notion  of  eternal  righteousness.  The  moral 
law  regulates  the  destiny  of  souls  on  their 
journey  through  the  world  of  name  and  form. 
Man's  activity  in  the  moral  sphere  is  guided  by 
the  idea  of  freedom.  In  the  sphere  of  God  there 
is  no  activity;  in  meditation  we  only  listen  to 
the  voice  of  God ;  in  Samadhi,  all  is  silent. 
Worship  exalts  the  soul  above  activity,  and 
Samadhi  exalts  her  above  both  activity  and 
passivity. 

You  can  understand  what  I  mean  by  Samadhi 
or  Absolute  Consciousness,  in  the  light  of  the 
teaching  of  St.  Dionysius  who  said,  "God  is 
nothing,"  when  these  words  are  placed  by  the 
side  of  those  of  St.  Augustine  when  he  said, 
"God  is  everything."  The  words  of  Dionysius 
signify  that  in  the  Absolute  Consciousness  the 
soul   becomes   God  and   sees  nothing  in  her 


IV       MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINT:         81 

presence.  The  words  of  Augustine  mean  that 
the  only  Reality  is  God,  and  nothing  else  that 
man  imagines  belongs  to  God.  So  that  it 
amounts  to  this  :  that  what  we,  in  our  ignorance, 
think  of  as  the  trinity  of  Absolute,  God,  and 
Ideal,  is  but  one,  in  which  the  three  merge  and 
disappear.  This  is  the  state  of  Mukti,  Libera- 
tion, or  Perfection,  in  which  we  can  say  with 
David : 

For  with  thee  is  the  fountain  of  life : 
In  thy  light  shall  we  see  light.^ 

Anti-theistic  systems  of  philosophy  have  not 
been  successful  in  destroying  man's  instinctive 
desire  to  worship.  Many  teachers,  both  ancient 
and  modern,  have  attempted  to  construct  re- 
ligion without  God,  but  what  was  the  result? 
The  followers  of  these  Godless  religions  have 
ended  by  worshipping  heroes,  saints,  reformers, 
generals,  kings,  authors,  poets,  and  the  ghosts 
of  their  ancestors.  I  would  ask  you  to  read  the 
history  of  Buddhism,  Confucianism,  and  Positiv- 
ism, and  observe  the  effect  they  produced  upon 
their  votaries.  Buddha  (557-477  B.C.)  taught 
his  disciples  not  to  believe  in  the  existence  of 
God,  of  the  soul,  and  of  eternity.  It  is  a  fact 
that  those  who  did  so  believe  were  regarded  as 
heretics  by  his  followers.  Buddhism  knows 
neither  metaphysics  nor  theology;  Buddha 
taught  that  man  can  be  perfect  by  practising 
virtue.     But  I  must  say  that  if  there  ever  was 

*  Psalm  xxxvi.  9. 


82  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

a  religion  which  can  be  said  to  be  perfect  without 
God,  it  is  Buddhism  —  as  it  was  taught  by  Lord 
Buddha.  Never  were  such  words  of  wisdom 
uttered  comparable  to  those  which  Buddha,  on 
his  last  day,  addressed  to  Ananda : 

Therefore,  O  Ananda,  be  ye  lamps  unto  your- 
selves. Be  ye  a  refuge  to  yourselves.  Betake  your- 
selves to  no  external  refuge.  Hold  fast  to  the 
truth  as  your  lamp.  Hold  fast  to  the  truth  as  a 
refuge.  Look  not  for  refuge  in  any  other  except 
yourselves;  and  whoever,  Ananda,  either  now,  or 
after  I  am  gone,  shall  act  thus,  it  is  they  only  among 
my  recluses  who  shall  reach  the  very  highest  height, 
and  even  they  must  be  willing  to  learn. 

In  these  words  no  reference  is  made  to  God, 
or  to  the  need  for  worship,  and  what  was  the 
result  ?  After  Buddha  attained  Nirvana  he  was 
deified.  Not  only  that,  but  the  later  Buddhists 
formed  a  theory  about  Arahats  and  Bodhisats 
who  were  held  up  to  the  mass  of  the  people  as 
objects  of  worship.  Some  of  these  Arahats  were 
taken  from  the  legends  of  early  Buddhism,  but 
the  vast  majority  were  the  offspring  of  the 
imagination  of  later  Buddhist  writers. 

In  many  countries  the  people  remained 
Buddhists  in  name  only,  their  actual  mode  of 
living  being  as  far  removed  from  the  Four  Truths 
or  the  Noble  Eightfold  Path  as  heaven  is  from 
hell.  To-day  we  know  that  the  Buddhism  of 
Tibet  is  the  very  opposite  of  Buddha's  Buddhism. 

Jainism  affords  another  example  of  religion 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         83 

without  God.  The  founder  of  the  Jain  religion 
was  Mahavir,  who,  according  to  Jaina  tradition, 
was  born  599  and  died  527  B.C. 

The  Jains  beHeve  in  the  final  liberation  of 
the  soul,  but  they  worship  the  Tirthankars,  who 
are  believed  to  be  perfected  souls.  Jainism 
resembles  Buddhism  in  being  a  highly  ethical 
religion ;  the  Jains  surpassed  even  the  Buddhists 
in  their  humane  treatment  of  animals,  including 
insects.  Yet  in  spite  of  all  that  is  universally 
regarded  as  beautiful  and  noble  in  their  religion, 
the  Jains  fail  to  believe  in  God. 

In  China,  Confucius  (550  B.C.)  taught  a  form 
of  religion  which  is  much  less  humanitarian 
than  Jainism,  and  certainly  infinitely  inferior  to 
Buddhism  in  regard  to  metaphysics.  It  became 
the  state  religion.  Confucius  is  the  Kautillya 
of  China.  His  eye  was  fixed  upon  a  sound 
political  organisation  of  the  country  upon  a 
foundation  of  utilitarian  moral  maxims.  His 
train  of  thought  is  positivisticand  ultra-practical. 
It  is  recorded  in  the  Book  of  Changes  that  we 
mortals  have  only  to  imderstand  the  knowable 
phenomena  and  to  leave  alone  the  unknowable 
noumena.  It  is,  however,  not  true,  as  many 
suppose,  that  Confucius  himseK  was  an  atheist. 
He  taught  faith  in  one  God,  but  the  monotheism 
of  Confucius  has  unfortunately  been  grossly 
ignored  by  his  followers.  Confucius  speaks 
of  "T'ien"  or  "Heaven,"  of  "Ming"  or 
"Heavenly  Destiny,"  and  of  "Taichi"  or  the 
"Great  Ultimate,"  but  he  never  enters  very 


84  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

deeply  into  the  metaphysics  of  the  invisible  and 
the  mysterious.  Dualism  of  the  physical  and 
moral  order  is  the  keynote  of  the  Li  Chang 
(Book  of  Changes).  Man's  highest  duty  is  to 
conform  to  these  two  contrasting  principles  of 
nature.  Life,  according  to  Confucius,  attains 
its  perfection  by  keeping  time  with  the  music 
of  the  moral  and  the  physical  spheres.  Man 
need  not  seek  to  penetrate  into  the  mysteries  of 
the  transcendental  order  which  apparently  has 
no  influence  upon  the  details  of  his  daily  life. 
Man  is  more  than  enough  for  himself  and  need 
not  indulge  in  vain,  imaginary  philosophy. 

European  civilisation  of  to-day  is  moving  on 
the  lines  laid  down  by  Confucius  more  than 
twenty-four  centuries  ago,  but  this  reflection  is 
by  way  of  digression.  What  I  'want  to  point 
out  is  that  the  purely  utilitarian  teaching  of 
Confucius  left  a  gap  in  the  minds  of  his  followers 
which,  in  the  course  of  ages,  came  to  be  filled  up 
by  the  ancestor-worship  of  primitive  Chinese 
mythology;  while  the  more  philosophically 
minded  took  to  the  universalism  of  Buddha  and 
the  idealism  of  Laotze. 

Now  to  cite  a  European  parallel.  Auguste 
Comte  taught  what  is  called  Positivism,  or  the 
religion  of  humanity,  a  cult  which  is  also  opposed 
to  Theism.  You  doubtless  know  Comte's  theory 
of  the  three  stages  through  which  human  thought 
has  passed :  the  theological  stage  of  primitive 
times,  the  metaphysical  stage  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  the  positive  or  scientific  stage  of 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         85 

modern  times.  This,  according  to  Comte,  is  a 
true  account  of  the  progress  of  human  society. 
These  stages  of  progress  are  successive,  so  that 
we  may  expect  to  see  throughout  history  the 
disappearance  of  one  stage  followed  by  the  re- 
appearance of  another;  but  is  this  the  case? 
Is  it  true  that  our  age,  which  Comte  calls 
scientific,  is  devoid  of  philosophy  and  religion  ? 

On  the  contrary,  we  find  that  religion,  meta- 
physics, and  science  are  flourishing  side  by  side, 
each  being  rectified  and  enriched  and  revitalised 
by  the  other.  These  three  instruments  of 
progress  have  been  present  more  or  less  in  all 
periods  of  history;  they  are  the  three  most 
vital  needs  of  the  soul,  because  knowledge  is  the 
essence  of  the  soul,  and  the  soul's  craving  for 
knowledge  is  satisfied  through  religion,  meta- 
physics, and  science,  while  Comte's  famous  pre- 
diction about  the  extinction  of  the  religious 
sentiment  was  falsified  by  himself,  when  in  the 
last  period  of  his  life  he  actually  founded  a  new 
religion,  which,  to  say  the  least,  is  no  improve- 
ment upon  the  ecclesiastical  government  and 
Church  practices  of  the  Roman  Catholics.  The 
Positivists  can  produce  a  calendar  of  saints 
with  sacred  relics  and  annual  festivals,  with 
a  catechism  for  their  church  use  and  a  High 
Priest  no  less  authoritative  than  the  Pope  of 
Rome. 

I  was  once  invited  by  a  Positivist  High  Priest 
to  attend  his  church  in  London.  There  I  saw 
the  images  of  many  historical  persons,  such  as 


86  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

Julius  Caesar,  Charlemagne,  and  others.  A 
prayer  was  addressed  to  humanity.  The  bust 
of  Comte  was  garlanded.  In  fact,  I  found  a 
lady  kneeling  down  at  the  feet  of  Comte's  statue, 
just  as  a  Catholic  would  kneel  at  the  feet  of 
Jesus.  Even  a  military  captain,  like  Caesar,  has 
his  worshippers  among  the  gentle  sheep  of 
Comte's  fold !  I  do  not  want  to  condemn  the 
worship  of  ancestral  shades  or  of  the  great  men 
of  history;  far  be  it  from  me  to  belittle  the 
gentle  humanity  of  Buddha  and  Mahavir,  the 
stern  common-sense  of  Confucius,  and  the  pro- 
found love  of  truth  which  characterised  every- 
thing that  Comte  wrote.  But  I  certainly  will 
say  that  the  soul  of  man  is  not  so  one-sided  or 
so  narrow  as  these  philosophers  would  have  us 
believe.  The  soul  of  man  is  vast  enough  to 
embrace  all  that  is  great  and  beautiful  and 
noble.  The  capacity  of  the  soul  is  infinite,  and 
"as  in  one  sky  the  silver  stars  all  sit"  (Al  Koran) 
so  philosophy,  religion,  and  science  may  all  be 
included  within  it.  The  best  religion  assimi- 
lates, and  does  not  destroy.  Like  a  symphony 
that  is  composed  of  many  notes  blended  together 
in  the  bond  of  harmony,  so  the  man  who  aspires 
after  perfection  assimilates  —  turns  into  the  very 
substance  of  his  inner  nature  —  all  the  most 
sublime  elements  which  are  present  in  the  head 
and  the  heart  and  the  soul  of  man.  One-sided- 
ness  is  the  bane  of  some  minds,  and  also  of  some 
periods  of  history.  As  you  cannot  suppress  the 
functioning  of  the  bodily  organs  without  making 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         87 

yourself  ill,  so  it  is  impossible  to  suppress  one 
part  of  consciousness  without  bringing  disaster 
upon  your  soul.  Our  age  is  vitiated  by  an 
unbelief  which  is  the  plague  of  the  soul;  this 
unbelief  in  the  Invisible  is  counterbalanced  by  a 
belief  in  the  powers  of  matter,  and  there  are 
quite  a  large  number  of  men  and  women  to  be 
found  in  every  country  who  are  more  ready  to 
believe  in  the  reality  of  a  pin  than  in  the  reality 
of  God  or  of  their  own  souls.  This  kind  of 
materialism  has  recently  assumed  another  form. 
I  refer  to  Spiritism.  The  object  of  Spiritists  is 
to  make  sure  of  survival  after  bodily  death. 
There  cannot  be  any  question  of  survival, 
because  the  soul  is  everlasting;  it  is  mere 
begging  the  question.  I  exist  at  this  moment, 
and  this  proves  that  I  did  exist  a  minute  ago. 
The  fact  of  my  existence  now  paves  the  way 
to  understanding  that  I  am  going  to  exist  in 
the  minute  to  come.  This  minute  flows  into 
the  next  minute  as  it  arose  out  of  the  last.  Time 
is  a  flux  of  three  moments  —  past,  present,  and 
future.  The  expression  "present  moment" 
has  no  sense  unless  it  is  linked  up  with  a  "past 
moment"  and  a  "future  moment."  The  soul 
which  is  aware  of  the  flux  of  time  at  once  co- 
exists with,  and  transcends  time.  It  co-exists 
with  time  Just  as  my  finger  co-exists  with  the 
pen  which  it  holds ;  and  it  transcends  time,  just 
as  my  finger  can  exist  without  the  pen  which 
it  holds.  The  soul  watches  the  flow  of  time 
so  long  as  she  is  in  the  state  of  a  wanderer 


88  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

(Samsara),  but  when  she  ceases  to  watch  the 
flow  of  time  she  exists  within  the  circle  of  her 
own  eternity.^ 

Spiritist  seances  can  never  prove  either  the 
existence  of  or  the  nature  of  the  soul,  any  more 
than  chemical  analysis  can  prove  the  existence 
of  the  ultimate  atoms  —  which  are  by  scientists 
imagined  to  exist.  As  "life"  eludes  the  grasp 
of  the  physiologist,  as  "ether"  escapes  the 
reach  of  all  the  instruments  with  which  the 
laboratory  of  the  physicist  is  provided,  so  the 
continuous  existence  of  the  spirit  cannot  be 
satisfactorily  established  by  seances  and  medi- 
umship.     As  the  Rishi  said  long  ago  : 

Mind  is  beyond  the  comprehension  of  the  senses, 
the  ego  is  beyond  that  of  the  mind,  the  understand- 
ing (Mahat)  is  beyond  that  of  the  ego,  the  substance 
of  the  Cosmos  (Prakriti)  is  beyond  that  of  the 
understanding,  and  the  soul  (Purusha)  is  beyond 
the  comprehension  of  the  substance  of  the  Cosmos; 
knowing  this  soul,  men  become  immortal.^ 

The  soul  is  not  a  shadow,  neither  is  it  a 
bubble.  It  is  at  present  in  this  body,  and  when 
this  body  sleeps,  it  wakes  up  under  another  sky, 
luminous  with  the  glory  of  other  suns  and  other 
stars.  There  are  other  and  surer  ways  of  know- 
ing the  imperishability  of  the  soul  than  the 
prophets  of  our  age  would  have  us  believe. 
Theosophists,  occultists,  psychists,  and  spiritists 
have  long  pursued  the  phantom  mirage  which 

*  See  Appendix.  '  Katha  Upanishad. 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         89 

has  been  surnamed  "spirit,"  and  is  supposed  to 
perform  the  duty  of  the  postman  and  the  mail- 
runner;  but  spirits  are  not  postal  messengers, 
they  have  neither  the  inclination  nor  the  instru- 
ments to  perform  this  duty. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  of  history  that  whenever 
people  lose  sight  of  the  one  true  God,  they  invent 
minor  gods  and  fall  at  their  feet ;  the  present 
age  is  no  exception  to  this  rule.  Dame  Europa 
worships  those  who  minister  to  her  pleasures 
and  her  comfort,  and  among  her  numerous  gods 
are  numbered  the  cook,  the  tailor,  the  brewer, 
the  musician,  the  actress,  the  engineer,  the 
general,  and  the  banker.  The  scientist  is  the 
Jupiter  of  this  beautiful  Pantheon  of  modern 
civilisation. 

The  Bible  says,  "I  am  the  Lord  thy  God, 
thou  shalt  have  none  other  gods  but  me."  How 
can  you  consistently  worship  these  many  gods  ? 
The  agnostic,  according  to  popular  fancy,  leads 
a  life  of  constant  God-denial,  but  let  us  try  to 
understand  the  psychology  of  his  mind.  In 
order  to  do  this,  we  must  first  understand  the 
workings  of  our  own  minds.  The  mind  is  con- 
stantly relationing,  i.e.  placing  itself  in  relation 
to  some  object;  this  relation  may  be  one  of 
agreement  or  of  disagreement.  When  the  mind 
proceeds  towards  the  object  it  is  establishing 
the  relation  of  agreement ;  but  when  it  recedes 
from  its  object,  it  is  establishing  a  relation  of 
disagreement.  Let  me  illustrate  this.  When 
you  think  of  a  person  as  your  friend,  your  mind 


90  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

is  advancing  towards  him,  and  you  are  in  a 
relation  of  agreement  with  him;  but  if  you 
think  of  a  person  as  your  enemy,  your  mind  is 
inclined  to  run  away  from  him,  and  you  are  in 
a  relation  of  non-agreement  with  him.  Whether 
you  are  in  agreement  or  non-agreement,  you  are 
always  related  to  the  person.  Similarly  the 
theist  is  in  agreement  and  the  agnostic  in  dis- 
agreement with  God ;  but  whether  in  agreement 
or  in  disagreement,  both  of  them  are  related  to 
God ;  the  former  establishes  by  owning,  the  latter 
by  disowning.  For  disowning  does  not  imply 
denial  of  existence.  Just  as  you  may  own  or 
disown  a  person  for  your  friend,  but  cannot  deny 
his  existence^  so  although  a  man  may  not  believe 
in  God,  yet  he  cannot  deny  His  existence ;  and 
as  the  same  person  may  be  your  friend  at  one 
time  and  your  enemy  later,  so  we,  in  one  period 
of  our  evolution,  may  be  theists,  and  at  another 
time  agnostics.  You  can  escape  from  your 
enemy,  but  you  cannot  escape  from  the  memory 
of  him.  In  the  same  way  the  agnostic  cannot 
escape  from  the  memory  of  God,  for  does  he  not 
delight  in  refuting  the  arguments  of  the  theist  ?  ^ 
In  the  course  of  their  lives  nearly  all  men  and 
women  pass  through  the  three  stages  of  belief, 
indifference,  and  non-belief.  Some  begin  life 
with  belief  in  God,  pass  through  a  stage  of  in- 
difference, and  end  with  disbelief.  Others  begin 
with  indifference,  pass  through  the  bitterness  of 
unbelief,  and  end  with  a  living  faith  in  God. 

^  See  Appendix, 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE        91 

It  IS  said  that  Goethe  lived  as  an  agnostic  for 
many  years  of  his  life,  but  that  he  afterwards 
found  it  impossible  to  exist  without  loving  God. 
Tolstoi  is  reported  to  have  been  tormented  with 
doubts  in  his  youth,  but  he  died  a  holy  man. 
The  agnostic  opposes,  not  God,  but  ignorance 
of  God,  because  many  believe  without  knowing 
Him.  This  ignorant  faith  is  what  the  agnostic 
does  not  understand. 

The  life  of  the  spirit  moves  like  a  straight 
line  which  starts  from  a  point,  passes  through 
infinite  space,  forming  a  completed  curve,  and 
then  returns  to  the  starting-point.     Thus : 


When  the  line  starts  from  A  it  appears  to  be 
going  in  the  same  direction  for  ever,  to  return 
no  more,  but  after  moving  in  a  straight  line 
towards  infinity  it  returns  to  the  original  start- 
ing-point. The  line  may  form  an  ellipse,  or  a 
parabola,  or  a  circle,  but  in  all  cases  the  moving 
point  is  destined  to  return. 

This  illustrates  the  dynamic  of  a  point  in 
space.     But  the  empirical  mind  of  man  moves 


92  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

not  on  the  plane  of  space,  but  on  the  plane  of 
time.  Then  it  passes  through  the  experience  of 
the  manifold  of  Avidya,  through  pain  and  un- 
truth to  peace  and  truth. 

So  it  is  with  men.  Sooner  or  later  we  shall 
all  discover  our  Divine  origin,  Divine  nature, 
and  Divine  destiny.  Never  despise  agnostics,  or 
those  who  are  not  of  the  same  mind  as  yourself 
in  philosophical  and  religious  matters.  We  are 
all  on  the  same  tack;  consciously  or  uncon- 
sciously, each  one  of  us  is  struggling  to  evolve 
divinity  out  of  nature  just  as  worlds  of  symmetry 
and  harmony  arise  out  of  the  strife  of  nebulous 
vapours.  A  man  may  be  fascinated  for  a  time 
by  the  siren  of  unbelief,  but  he  can  never  drink 
enough  of  the  waters  of  Lethe  to  forget  God. 
Just  as  the  serum  of  small-pox  injected  into  the 
body  of  a  child  renders  him  immune  from  the 
disease,  so  a  discipline  of  agnostic  philosophy 
prepares  the  heart  for  initiation  into  the  wisdom 
of  theism.  Just  as  a  healthy  young  man  re- 
quires to  take  violent  exercise,  so  the  mind,  on 
account  of  the  ignorance  innate  in  it,  requires 
these  incursions  into  the  waste  lands  of  athe- 
ism and  unbelief,  but  in  the  end,  like  the  prodi- 
gal son  in  the  parable,  it  turns  instinctively  to 
God.  It  is  better  to  be  an  honest  agnostic 
than  a  parrot-like  theist. 

Remember  the  lesson  of  history:  the  per- 
secution of  Christians  by  pagans  strengthened 
the  foundations  of  the  Christian  Chruch  in 
Eiu-ope,  and  the  persecution  of  scientists  by  the 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         93 

Catholic  Church  In  the  Middle  Ages  gave  fresh 
impetus  to  the  scientific  movement ;  in  the  same 
way,  the  persecution  of  the  Hindus  by  Mahome- 
dans  in  India  has  resulted  in  the  revival  of 
Hinduism.  Persecution  is  as  impotent  an  instru- 
ment in  the  hands  of  a  corrupt  and  decayed 
Church  as  hatred  and  intolerance  in  the  private 
individual.  We  Hindus  neither  hate  nor  quarrel 
nor  seek  to  convert  the  people  of  other  faiths, 
and  we  regard  this  zeal  for  converting  others  as 
a  want  of  trust  in  God,  whose  aim  it  is  to  bring 
all  His  children  to  a  knowledge  of  Himself.  In 
India  all  the  religions  of  the  world  are  regarded 
as  sincere  endeavours  to  aid  the  spirit  in  its 
progress  from  lesser  to  higher  conceptions  of 
truth. 

We  have  discussed  the  question  of  man's 
relation  to  God,  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  — 

(1)  This  question  arises  from  the  nature  of 
man's  memory  which  is  absolutely  independent, 
not  only  of  the  mechanism  of  the  brain,  but  also 
of  the  empirical  mind. 

(2)  This  relation  may  be  either  one  of  agree- 
ment or  non-agreement,  according  as  man  turns 
towards  God  or  away  from  Him. 

(3)  I  have  shown  that  the  relation  of  non- 
agreement  implies  —  not  denial  of  God,  but 
opposition  to  Avidya,  ignorance  of  Him. 

We  will  now  consider  other  questions,  which 
are  of  much  deeper  import  to  the  student  of 
Vedanta :   (1)  Is  man  created  by  God  ?     (2)  Is 


94  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

the  soul  of  man  composed  of  the  same  substance 
as  God?  (3)  Is  man  none  other  than,  and 
identical  with  God? 

The  first  question  cannot  be  seriously  enter- 
tained. Anybody  can  stand  up  and  ask,  "Why 
did  He  create  at  all?  How,  and  out  of  what 
was  the  soul  created?"  These  questions  can 
be  answered  by  the  inventors  of  mythology,  or 
by  dogmatic  theology,  but  not  by  philosophy. 
The  word  "creation"  is  so  vague  and  so  un- 
philosophical  that  I  believe  it  has  been  the  cause 
of  much  disagreement  between  science  and 
religion,  between  theists  and  agnostics.  We 
must  not  picture  God  as  the  architect  of  the 
universe.  As  Sankara  pointed  out,  the  God  of 
creation  is  the  root  of  exoteric  theology  and  the 
product  of  nescience.  The  assumption  of  God 
as  creator  involves  the  assumption  that  He  is 
the  source  of  evil,  and  that  our  sufferings  were 
invented  by  Him  —  apparently  in  a  vindictive 
spirit.  I  shall  therefore  dismiss  the  first  alterna- 
tive as  unworthy  of  philosophic  consideration ; 
but  the  second  question  deserves  careful  atten- 
tion :  Is  the  soul  akin  to  God's  nature  ?  And 
are  we  a  part  of  the  Divine  Substance  ? 

To  this  it  may  be  replied  that  in  so  far  as  man 
realises  his  universal  nature  and  eternal  destiny, 
the  individual  is  in  essence  inseparable  from 
God;  but  in  so  far  as  he  is  overcome  by  the 
limitations  of  his  personality,  he  is  separate  from 
Him. 

This  conclusion  is  based  upon  the  revelation 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE        95 

of  our  religious  consciousness.  In  religious 
ecstasy  (sampratijnata  samadhi)  God  reveals 
Himself  as  Love  and  Wisdom,  not  as  abstract 
qualities,  but  as  a  Divine  Person,  endowed  with 
love  and  wisdom,  who  bestows  these  blessings 
upon  the  worshipper.  It  is  in  such  moments  of 
intensification  and  illumination  that  the  know- 
ledge breaks  upon  us  that  we  are  infinite  and 
immortal.  We  could  never  have  realised  our 
infinity  unless  we  were,  in  essence,  the  same  as 
God,  of  a  piece  with  Him,  a  bit  of  Him.  God 
breathes  into  our  souls  in  moments  of  prayer 
when  all  fear  of  death  is  blown  away  like  dry 
grass  before  a  tempest,  and  for  the  time  being 
our  imperfections  leave  us  like  a  serpent's  worn- 
out  skin.  The  soul  becomes  filled  with  harmony, 
life,  and  joy  when  the  touch  of  the  Divine  helps 
it  to  regain  its  Divine  nature;  when  man  sees, 
not  himself,  but  his  Self  in  the  light  which 
streams  from  above;  when  he  feels  that  he  is 
as  inseparable  from  God  as  heat  is  from  fire, 
as  word  is  from  meaning. 

Here  we  must  consider  whether  the  nature  of 
God  is  as  we  feel  Him  to  be,  or  as  He  feels  Him- 
self. We  derive  from  our  religious  consciousness 
the  idea  that  God  is  good,  merciful,  omniscient. 
We  are  aware  of  His  attributes,  viz.  His  power. 
His  majesty.  His  wisdom,  but  can  we  say  that 
God  sees  Himself  in  the  same  way  that  we  see 
Him?  It  may  be  that  God  has  a  million  of 
attributes,  and  that  we  know  only  a  few,  or  it 
may  be  that  His  real  nature  is  known  to  Himself 


96  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

only;  to  illustrate  this  point,  it  may  be  said 
that  an  artist  sees  more  colours,  lights,  and 
shades,  more  symmetries,  etc.,  in  a  picture 
than  a  man  who  is  ignorant  of  the  technique  of 
art.  God  knows  His  whole  nature,  and  man 
only  knows  a  bit  of  Him.  Ramanuja  makes  a 
distinction  between  God-as-He-sees-Himself  and 
God  as  seen  by  man.  He  is  not  two,  but  One 
manifest  in  Himself  in  many  ways,  just  as  the 
air  passing  through  the  flute  produces  the  seven 
fundamental  musical  notes.  God  is  the  Divine 
Unity,  the  Transcendent  One  of  Absolutist 
philosophy,  as  well  as  the  Lover  and  the  Teacher 
of  each  individual  soul. 

The  great  Indian  poet  Kabir  expresses  the 
relation  between  God  and  man  by  the  beautiful 
imagery  of  the  rhythmic  swing.  The  human 
soul  and  the  worlds  are  held  to  God  by  cords 
of  love,  and  the  motion  of  the  cosmos  is  repre- 
sented as  an  eternal  swing  of  God.  According 
to  this  view,  i.e.  that  of  the  qualified  monists  as 
represented  by  Ramanuja  and  his  school,  nature 
and  the  soul  are  the  two  ends  of  God's  play- 
ground; but  He  Himself  outstrips  both  nature 
and  humanity.  In  ancient  times  this  doctrine 
of  God  was  taught  by  Bodhayana,  in  the  Middle 
Ages  by  Ramanuja  and  Sri  Kanta,  and  in  mod- 
ern times  by  Chaitanya.  It  is  called  the  Visista- 
dvaita,  or  qualified  monism.  It  spread  over  to 
'*)  Persia,  where  it  was  known  as  Sufism,  and  in 
\  Europe  it  was  popularised  by  Saint  Augustine, 
'      Jacob  Boehme,  and  Ruysbroeck.     In  the  poems 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         97 

of  Kabir,  which  have  recently  been  translated 
into  English  by  Rabindranath  Tagore,  and  in 
the  poems  of  Jalaluddin  Rumi,  you  will  find  a 
poetical  expression  of  this  synthetic  vision  of 
God. 

There  are  four  fundamental  ideas  which  are 
the  indications  of  man's  future  destiny;  these 
are :  perfection,  immortality,  eternity,  and 
benevolence.  They  are  not  mere  ideas,  but 
ideals,  and  not  mere  abstract  ideals,  but  living 
forces.  Ideals  become  real  through  knowledge. 
He  is  mortal  who  does  not  know  his  immortality ; 
he  is  a  sinner  who  is  not  aware  of  his  perfection ; 
he  is  bound  over  to  re-birth  and  re-death  who 
has  not  seen  God  as  his  eternal  Soul ;  and  he  has 
not  yet  lived  who  has  not  opposed  hatred  by 
love.  These  four  ideas  are  in  your  soul  like 
seeds  in  the  soil,  and  these  seeds  will  become 
trees,  covered  with  foliage  and  blossoms,  when 
you  become  mukta  purushas,  or  free  souls. 

God,  as  He  appears  to  the  mukta  purusha, 
must  differ  from  the  conception  of  those  who  are 
in  bondage.  Those  who  still  walk  in  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death,  whose  eyes  are  blinded 
by  ignorance,  whose  hearts  are  full  of  the  sores 
of  narrowness,  —  they  can  have  no  conception  of 
God  save  as  One  who  is  endowed  with  human 
attributes,  though  many  times  magnified.  For 
this  reason  there  must  be  two  different  pictures 
of  God,  owing  to  the  existence  of  two  very 
different  standpoints.  The  free  souls  realise 
God  as  One  who  is  free  from  all  phenomenal  and 

H 


98  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

anthropomorphic  attributes,  but  for  them  who 
see  Him  through  the  eyes  of  faith  and  devotion 
He  is  still  endowed  with  noumenal  attributes  or, 
in  the  words  of  Ramanuja,  "kalyana  gunakar," 
"endowed  with  innumerable  auspicious  quali- 
ties," such  as  the  boundless  glory  of  illimitable 
knowledge,  dominion  and  majesty,  power, 
generation  of  all  things  at  will,  wisdom,  mercy, 
etc. 

As  a  man's  sins  are  washed  away  by  incessant 
worship,  so  his  knowledge  of  God  becomes  purer 
and  wider,  and  thus,  in  the  mystical  language  of 
Pancharatra,  the  Lord  who  is  the  ocean  of  com- 
passion takes  five  forms  for  the  sake  of  His 
worshipper,  viz.  adoration  (Archa),  emanation 
(Vibhava),  manifestation  (Vyuha),  the  subtile 
controller  (Suksma),  and  the  internal  controller 
(Antaryami) .  These  five  progressive  representa- 
tions of  Godhead,  as  seen  and  understood  by  the 
mind  of  the  devotee,  are  expressed  in  very 
mystical  terms :  Archa  implies  the  pictorial  or 
symbolical  representation  of  the  Invisible,  as 
crystallised  in  religious  institutions.  In  order 
that  the  child  worshipper  may  begin  spiritual 
life,  he  must  be  given  some  image,  picture,  or 
symbol,  so  that  he  can  form  some  representative 
idea  of  God  in  his  mind.  Just  as  it  is  impossible 
to  teach  a  child  to  read  without  first  teaching 
him  the  alphabet,  or  to  teach  him  mathematics 
without  first  teaching  him  numerical  figures,  so 
you  cannot  fix  his  attention  upon  God  without 
giving   him   some   symbols    to    think   of.     In 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE         99 

Christian  countries  the  cross  is  regarded  as  the 
symbol  of  religious  worship,  just  as  the  national 
flag  stands  for  the  sentiment  of  patriotism. 
With  us,  the  idea  of  God  is  associated  with 
symbols  carved  in  stone,  or  outlined  on  canvas. 
We  do  not  worship  idols,  as  the  missionaries 
ignorantly  assert,  but  the  same  psychology 
which  makes  you  think  respectfully  of  your  flag 
and  reverentially  of  your  cross  makes  us  Hindus 
think  lovingly  of  the  images  of  the  Divine 
Mother  and  the  statues  of  the  Divine  Chario- 
teer. This  symbolical  representation  of  God 
is  the  beginning  of  religious  life;  it  precedes 
and  paves  the  way  to  mental  worship,  and 
when  man  arrives  at  the  higher  stage  of  abstract 
worship,  he  then  by  an  inner  necessity  of 
thought  discards  the  symbols. 

The  next  stage  in  the  progress  of  the  spirit 
is  indicated  by  the  term  Vibhava  (emanation), 
which  means  God-man.  Just  as  you  regard 
Christ  as  God-man,  or  Son  of  God,  so  we  believe 
that  God  assumes  human  form  out  of  love,  to 
guide  man  in  the  path  of  liberation.  This 
second  stage  of  spiritual  progress  is  marked  by 
the  discovery  of  an  intermediate  soul  who  is  both 
human  and  Divine ;  Vibhava  is  the  actual  spirit, 
like  Rama  or  Krishna,  who  came  down  on  earth 
to  lead  humanity.  The  worship  of  the  Incarna- 
tion of  God  is  considered  as  good  as  the  worship 
of  God  Himself,  and  many  such  incarnations  are 
recorded  in  our  history.  They  are  also  called 
advents  (Avataras). 


100  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

The  third  stage  is  called  Vyuha,  which  is  the 
fourfold  manifestation  of  the  Supreme  Spirit, 
named  respectively  Vasudeva,^  or  manifesta- 
tion under  the  form  of  universal  soul ;  Samkar- 
sana,  manifestation  under  the  form  of  Divine 
attraction  or  love;  Pradyumna,  manifestation 
under  the  form  of  pre-eminent  might;  Ani- 
ruddha,  manifestation  under  the  form  of  free- 
dom. At  an  advanced  stage  of  spiritual  insight 
we  apprehend  God  as  (1)  Supreme  Mind,  (2)  Su- 
preme Love,  (3)  Supreme  Power,  and  (4)  Su- 
preme Freedom.  The  fourth  stage  is  called 
Suksma,  or  the  subtile.  When  the  devotee  rises 
above  the  third  stage,  he  perceives  that  these 
fourfold  manifestations  are  inherent  in  one  Per- 
son who  is  the  centre  of  all  that  is  good  and 
powerful  and  beautiful.  The  fifth,  or  last  stage, 
is  Antaryami,  when  the  devotee  feels  that  his 
soul  is  the  throne  or  chariot  of  God.  The  ego  is 
now  no  longer  self-willed,  but  is  moved  by  God ; 
He  is  the  sure  Friend,  the  faithful  Lover,  the 
wise  Teacher,  and  the  All  in  All.  This  is  the 
highest  height  of  religious  consciousness.^ 

As  a  man  progresses  in  the  path  of  righteous- 
ness and  devotion,  he  becomes  fit  to  worship 
God  under  these  different  forms,  beginning  with 
the  first  and  ending  with  Antaryami,  when  his 
soul  is  emancipated  from  all  imperfections  and 
he  enjoys  the  beatitudes  in  the  company  of  the 
Most  High.  "Cut  is  his  heart's  knot,  solved 
are  all  his  doubts,  and  exhausted  are  all  his 

*  See  Appendix.  ^  See  Appendix. 


IV        MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE       101 

works  when  he  has  seen  the  Highest  and  Lowest  *' 
(Upanishads) ,  because  he  is  then  for  ever  united 
with  God.  This  union  does  not  lie  in  the  power 
of  the  individual  soul,  but  in  the  choice  of  God, 
for,  as  the  Rishi  says,  "God  is  not  attainable 
by  study,  or  wisdom,  or  learning;  whom  God 
chooses,  by  him  God  may  be  attained,  to  him 
He  unfolds  His  own  nature." 

Ramanuja  thinks  that  souls  are  the  body  of 
God :  these  Jivas  —  as  a  collection  of  sentient 
beings  —  are  the  eternal  ideas  of  God,  and  just 
as  perfection,  virtue,  knowledge,  etc.,  are  the 
ideas  of  superior  reason,  inextricably  bound 
together  with  it,  so  all  these  countless  souls  are 
present  in  the  Divine  Mind  from  all  eternity. 
In  the  same  way,  nature  (Prakriti),  time  (Kala), 
and  the  law  of  ethics  (Karma)  are  the  eternal 
thoughts  of  God.  So  we  may  say  that  conscious 
souls  are  the  subjective  ideas,  while  nature  (i.e. 
time,  space,  motion)  is  the  objective  idea  of  God. 

Both  these  subjective  and  objective  ideas  are 
liable  to  the  law  of  evolution  and  devolution, 
appearance  and  disappearance.  Creation  means 
actualisation,  and  destruction  means  the  poten- 
tialisation  of  these  ideas  which  are  eternally 
present  in  God's  mind.  Still  it  must  be  remem- 
bered that  God  surpasses  even  His  subjective- 
objective  nature.  What  He  is  like  is  beyond 
the  power  of  intellect  to  conceive,  or  the  power 
of  language  to  express. 

Those  who  are  anxious  to  study  this  aspect 
of    Vedantic    thought    ought    to   be   familiar 


102  BRAHMADARSANAM  iv 

with  the  writings  of  Ramanuja  Acharya, 
Sri  Kantha  Acharya,  and  Madhya  Acharya. 
They  ought  also  to  read  Baladeva's  Govinda 
Bhasya  and  the  works  of  the  brothers  Rupa 
and  Sanatana.  Srimad  Bhagavad  is  an  ex- 
cellent book  on  the  subject. 

Reality  has  its  origin  in  the  ideal  order  of 
the  universe.  The  truth  of  the  ideal  universe 
lies  in  its  capacity  for  being  subjected  to  the 
experience  of  a  conscious  soul.  This  conscious 
soul  is  God,  who  is  intuitively  conscious  of  (1) 
the  finite  experiencing  soul,  (2)  the  ideal  uni- 
verse, and  (3)  the  real  universe.  Hence  God, 
soul,  and  universe  are  the  three  moments  of  an 
eternally  abiding  interdependent  series.  These 
are  the  three  Nityas,  or  eternal  reals  of  the 
Visistadvaita  school  of  the  Vedanta  philosophy. 

Thus,  to  put  it  in  pictorial  language,  we  learn 
that  humanity  is  God's  body  and  nature  his 
raiment.  How  beautiful  it  is  to  think  that  we 
are  all  in  His  embrace ! 

The  highest  object  of  religious  aspiration  is 
to  feel  the  Omnipresence  of  God.  He  is  to  be 
sought  and  worshipped  not  only  in  Himself 
(Is vara),  but  also  in  soul  (Chit)  and  in  matter 
(Achit).  In  the  Gitd  Sri  Krishna  teaches  sat  asat 
aham,  "  I  am  the  real  as  well  as  the  unreal."  To 
come  to  a  proper  understanding  of  Isvara,  Chit, 
and  Achit,  three  methods  of  realisation  have 
been  taught  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Hindus : 
(1)  Svadha^macharana,  performance  of  your 
duty ;   (2)  Atmanatmaviveka,  discrimination  of 


IV       MONISM:  MAN  AS  DIVINE        103 

the  real  self  from  the  unreal  ego ;  and  (3)  Vasu- 
deva  sarvam  iti,  to  realise  that  everything  which 
exists,  gross  and  subtile,  movable  and  immovable, 
visible  and  invisible,  are  nothing  but  God.  These 
three  are  called  the  three  secrets  of  the  micro- 
cosmos  —  corresponding  to  the  three  secrets  of 
the  macrocosmos,  viz.  Isvara,  Chit,  and  Achit. 
They  are  the  three  sacred  truths  of  life,  and 
they  form  the  essence  of  Vedanta,  in  fact  of  all 
religions  of  the  world. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Brihadaranyaka  Upanishad. 

Chhandogya  Upanishad. 

Plotinus'  writings.^ 

Descartes'  Works. 

Spinoza's  Works. 

Sankara's  Bhasyas. 

Taittiriya  Upanishad. 

Ramanuja's   Vedarthasamgraha,    VedSntadipa,    and 

Bhasyas. 
Meister  Eckhart's  Works. 
Kabir's  Poems. 

Sri  Kantha's  Sivacharya  Bhasya. 
Baladeva  Vidyabhusan's  Siddhantaratna. 
Vachaspati's  Bhamati. 
MadhvasiddhSntasara  by  Padmanabhasuri. 


V 

MONISM:  THE  ABSOLUTE  AND  THE 
COSMOS 

Psychological  foundation  of  Advaita  philosophy  of  Sankara  — 
State  of  subconsciousness  —  Progressive  Yoga  life  — 
Turiya  and  Samvit  —  Avidya,  the  doctrine  of  error  — 
Discipleship. 

Sri  Sankara  Acharya's  exposition  of  the 
Vedanta  proceeds  on  strict  Advaita,  or  monistic 
lines;  it  is  an  exposition  which  is  unsurpassed 
in  the  history  of  philosophy.  No  philosopher, 
either  in  ancient  or  in  modern  times,  has  ever 
risen  to  such  high  altitudes  to  survey  pure 
spirit;  yet  he  cannot  be  called  the  founder  of 
Advaita  Vedanta,  for  he  only  carried  on  the 
glorious  traditions  of^  his  master  and  spiritual 
father,  Sri  Govinda  Acharya,  who  was_in  turn 
the  spiritual  son  of  Sri  Gaudapada  AchSrya, 
the  writer  of  an  excellent  commentary  on  some 
of  the  most  abstruse  of  the  Upanishads.  The 
age  in  which  these  three  philosophers  flourished 
is  not  exactly  known,  but  it  can  safely  be 
said  to  have  been  not  later  than  the  eighth 
century  a.d. 

104 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  105 

Sankara  based  his  teaching  on  the  ancient 
texts  of  the  Upanishads,  and  his  interpretation 
was  guided  by  a  transcendental  sense  of  value 
which  was  at  once  critical  and  constructive. 
He  mercilessly  exposed  the  fallacies  of  Kapila's 
realism  and  the  nihilism  of  the  Buddha's  teach- 
ing. The  blemishes  in  the  systems  taught  by 
Patau jali  and  Gotama  were  also  pointed  out 
by  him;  but  although  his  tone  was  extremely 
critical,  Sankara's  philosophy  is  far  from  being 
destructive,  for  he  established  philosophical 
thought  on  the  surest  of  all  foundations,  viz. 
on  the  transcendental  identity  of  experience 
with  existence,  chit  and  sat. 

Hence  arises  the  great  difficulty  of  compre- 
hending the  logic  of  his  dialectical  procedure, 
for  a  thorough  familiarity  with  the  Vedas  and 
the  different  Darsanas  is  a  pre-requisite  for  the 
student  who  aspires  to  the  study  of  Sankara's 
Advaita.  Moreover,  the  abstruse  nature  of  his 
writings  may  be  appreciated  from  the  fact  that 
the  superstructure  of  his  metaphysics  was  built 
upon  the  psychical  experience  of  the  fourth 
degree  (Turiya),  and  that  the  truths  taught  in 
his  work  were  meant  for  the  instruction  of  those 
who,  being  born  in  the  fourth  caste  (Brahman), 
had,  by  pure  and  holy  living,  made  themselves 
eligible  for  the  fourth  order  (Yati) ;  and  lastly, 
the  ideal  which  he  preached  could  only  bear 
fruit  and  become  actual  to  those  who  had  the 
fourth  purpose  of  life  (Moksha)  in  view,  and 
who  were  on  the  threshold  of  realising  the  fourth 


106  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

and  last  perfection  (nirvikalpa  Samadhi).  The 
'  Advaita  ideal  is  to  be  followed  by  those  who 
have  renounced  all  desires  for  worldly  prosperity, 
who  live  only  for  truth,  and  whose  one  object 
in  life  is  liberation. 

But  let  not  this  discourage  any  one  from  the 
study  of  Sankara,  for  whatever  may  be  your 
position  in  the  world  of  religion  and  philosophy, 
you  all  desire  to  be  emancipated  from  error  and 
saved  by  a  knowledge  of  truth  which  can  give 
permanent  peace  and  happiness.  The  seeds  of 
knowledge  sown  now  will  bear  fruit  in  the  fulness 
of  time. 

Let  us  examine  some  of  the  salient  features 
*  of  the  Advaita  philosophy  of  Sankara.  The 
promise  of  Advaita-knowledge  lies  embedded  in 
our  nightly  experience  of  deep  sleep  (Susupti), 
and  its  fulfilment  in  the  experience  of  uncondi- 
tioned ecstasy  (Samadhi).  It  would  be  impos- 
sible to  understand  the  Advaita  philosophy  unless 
we  were  able  to  discover  its  psychological  founda- 
tion in  the  depths  of  our  own  nature.  Consider 
the  changes  that  take  place  within  the  mind 
every  twenty -four  hours :  in  the  day-time  we 
are  awake  and  active ;  at  night  we  go  to  sleep. 
Sometimes  we  dream,  at  other  times  we  enjoy 
a  dreamless  sleep;  thus  it  happens  that  every 
day  we  pass  through  the  three  states  of  waking, 
dreaming,  and  dreamlessness,  yet  we  hardly  stop 
to  think  over  these  three  states  of  our  own 
bodies  and  minds,  although  the  entire  range  of 
existence  and  experience  lies  confined  within 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  107 

the  limits  of  the  two  parallel  states  of  waking 
and  sleeping.  What  is  life  but  waking  ?  What 
is  death  but  sleep?  Yet  we  feel  that  our  real 
existence  is  beyond  wakefulness  and  sleep, 
beyond  life  and  death.  Why  is  this?  In 
waking  we  are  conscious  of  the  ego  and  of  the 
world;  the  ego  remains  unchanged  while  the 
world  changes.  By  the  term  "world"  I  mean 
the  sensations  that  come  to  the  mind  through 
the  senses,  the  eyes,  ears,  nose,  taste,  and  touch. 
These  sensations  are  continually  changing  :  first 
we  see  light,  then  perhaps  we  hear  sound,  after 
that  we  experience  smell,  etc.  It  is  the  ego 
which  perceives  these  changes;  the  ego  is  also 
acting.  When  we  desire  to  talk  or  walk,  it  is 
the  ego  which  puts  forth  activity  and  thereby 
moves  the  organs  and  limbs  —  hands,  feet, 
tongue,  etc. 

One  of  the  functions  of  the  ego  is  knowing, 
while  the  other  is  acting.  In  waking  life  the 
ego  knows  and  does,  therefore  we  may  say  that 
self-consciousness  is  the  central  fact  of  waking 
experience,  in  which  the  ego  clearly  distinguishes 
its  individuality  from  the  individuality  of  other 
egos.  For  instance,  I  am  distinct  and  separate 
from  you ;  you  can  never  obliterate  the  distinc- 
tive mark  of  your  own  individuality  from  that 
of  a  friend,  a  son,  or  a  neighbour.  *'I,"  "you," 
"he"  are  personal  pronouns  which  express  this 
ineffaceable  distinction  between  different  in- 
dividuals. In  the  waking  state  self -conscious- 
ness implies  the  consciousness  of  personality  and 


108  BRAHMADARSANAM  /  v 

not  that  of  the  pure  Self.  This  personality  is 
really  a  series  or  group  of  attributes;  i.e.  it 
includes  the  mental  attributes  which  you  have 
inherited  from  your  ancestors,  as  well  as  those 
which  are  acquired.  You  may  be  kind,  energetic, 
and  temperate ;  you  may  be  a  father  in  relation 
to  one  individual,  brother  in  relation  to  another, 
and  so  on.  Personality  is  a  consciousness  of 
disposition,  social  position,  etc.,  and  all  these 
revolve  around  the  centre  called  "I";  but 
what  this  "I"  is,  apart  from  personality,  is  a 
mystery.  Another  characteristic  of  the  content 
of  the  waking  consciousness  is  the  uniformity  of 
the  outer  world.  In  the  waking  state  time  is 
measurable,  space  is  measurable,  and  there  is  a 
nexus  between  one  event  and  another,  which 
is  called  the  causal  tie ;  for  instance,  there  is  a 
relation  between  rain  and  harvest.  This  know- 
ledge, which  we  derive  from  the  measurableness 
of  time,  space  and  causality,  constitutes  our 
conception  of  the  uniformity  of  nature;  there- 
fore we  may  sum  up  the  contents  of  our  wakeful 
consciousness  as  follows : 

(1)  Knowledge  of  our  own  character,  dis- 
position, etc. 

(2)  Knowledge  of  the  character,  disposition, 
etc.,  of  others,  e.g.  men  and  animals. 

(3)  Knowledge  of  the  uniformity  of  space, 
time,  and  causality.  Does  the  waking  con- 
sciousness give  us  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
nature  of  this  seU?  It  is  difficult  to  answer; 
let  us  say  that  it  gives  us  direct  knowledge  of 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  109 

our  own  character,  etc.,  and  of  the  character 
and  disposition  of  others,  together  with  an  in- 
direct knowledge  of  the  "I"  or  self.  I  say  "in- 
direct knowledge,"  because  we  really  do  not 
know  the  exact  nature  of  the  "I,"  although  we 
have  good  reason  for  supposing  that  behind  and 
below  my  thoughts  and  feelings  there  is  "some- 
thing" which  forms,  so  to  speak,  the  ground  or 
foundation  of  my  character  and  disposition, 
whether  waking  or  dreaming. 

Let  us  now  analyse  dream-consciousness.  It 
is  very  difficult  to  say  what  happens  during  the 
interval  between  the  beginning  of  sleep  and  the 
beginning  of  dream.  It  may  be  that  our  dreams 
begin  in  a  more  or  less  hazy  way  from  the 
moment  when  drowsiness  first  overcomes  us. 
In  an  advanced  stage  of  sleep  our  dream-images 
become  suflficiently  clear  and  distinct  to  impress 
themselves  on  the  memory  so  that  on  awaking 
we  are  able  to  recall  them.  If  we  compare  the 
content  of  waking  consciousness  with  that  of 
dream  consciousness,  we  shall  find  that  as  a 
general  rule  dream-consciousness  contains  all 
the  elements  of  waking  consciousness,  only  vastly 
transformed.  For  instance,  in  many  cases  there 
is  a  marked  change  of  personality ;  the  character, 
age,  rank,  temperament,  and  disposition  of  the 
dreamer  changes  in  the  wildest  way.  A  poor 
housemaid  dreams  that  she  has  become  the 
Queen  of  Persia,  a  brave  warrior  dreams  that 
he  runs  away  at  the  first  sign  of  danger,  and  a 
man  dreams  that  he  is  an  angel.     Time,  space. 


110  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

and  causality  take  on  a  new  r61e ;  events  appear 
to  take  place  in  a  few  moments  which  would 
in  reality  occupy  many  months,  maybe  years. 
There  is  a  case  recorded  of  a  man  who  dreamed 
he  was  wandering  about  in  the  wilderness.  After 
walking  for  several  days  in  the  jungle,  he  found 
his  way  out  and  entered  a  small  village  where 
he  lived  in  the  house  of  a  rich  man,  fell  in  love 
with  the  daughter  and  married  her.  They  lived 
happily  together  for  many  years,  during  which 
time  seven  boys  and  seven  girls  were  born  to 
them ;  then  their  happiness  was  marred  by  a 
severe  famine,  in  consequence  of  which  food 
became  very  scarce  and  the  whole  family  had 
to  leave  the  village.  While  the  man  with  his 
wife  and  children  were  fording  a  stream,  down 
came  a  strong  current  of  water  from  the  moun- 
tains and  swept  them  all  away,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  man  himself,  who  with  great  diflSculty 
swam  across  and  was  thrown  against  the  river 
bank.  He  got  up  and  dried  himself  in  the  sun, 
but  just  when  he  was  thinking  of  going  on  to 
the  nearest  village,  a  huge  tiger  attacked  him. 
Frightened  by  the  animal,  he  yelled  for  help, 
and  was  awakened  by  the  sound  of  his  own 
voice.  All  this  took  place  in  an  inconceivably 
short  time. 

In  dream,  time  creeps  like  a  snail  or  gallops 
like  a  war-horse.  In  dream,  we  cannot  measure 
time  in  the  same  way  as  we  do  in  waking,  we 
cannot  divide  it  into  hours,  minutes,  etc.  Space 
also   undergoes    a   great   transformation,    and 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  111 

distance  is  no  longer  the  same  in  dream  as  in 
the  waking  state ;  similarly  the  idea  of  causality 
changes.  Dream-consciousness  transforms  all 
our  notions  concerning  nature's  laws,  and  no 
happenings,  however  grotesque,  cause  any 
surprise  to  the  dreamer.  The  world  of  dream 
has  laws  and  expectations  of  its  own,  quite 
apart  from  those  of  the  waking  world.  Thus 
we  see  that  the  experience  of  dream  is  unverified 
by  the  experience  of  waking.  The  images  of 
dream  appear  to  the  dreamer  as  real ;  he  only 
believes  them  to  be  unreal  on  waking,  but  it 
never  occurs  to  the  dreamer  that  the  sights  and 
sounds  which  he  experiences  on  waking  are  un- 
real, for  waking  gives  the  lie  to  dream  experience, 
but  not  conversely.  In  one  sense  dream-life 
is  a  narrowing  down  of  consciousness,  but  in 
another  sense  it  reveals  the  vast  possibilities 
of  a  widening  of  the  function  and  sphere  of 
consciousness.  Dream  shuts  us  within  a  sphere 
in  which  the  ego  is  unable  to  take  part  or  influence 
other  egos,  or  the  world  of  matter.  The  dreamer 
is  not  an  ethical  personage,  for  he  is  not  master 
of  his  own  will  or  conduct.  Dream  shows  the 
power  of  the  ego  to  create  time,  space,  and 
causality.  In  waking  we  are  the  creatures  of 
time,  but  in  dreaming  we  create  a  new  time  from 
whose  tyranny  there  is  no  escape  except  by 
waking.  Thus  the  ego  destroys  time  and  space, 
and  evolves  a  new  time  and  a  new  space  out  of 
its  own  Karma  —  only  to  become  once  more  a 
prisoner.     Its  newly  acquired  freedom  from  the 


112  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

meshes  of  the  outer  world  is  devoured  by  the 
monster  of  the  world  within. 

Advancing  from  the  magic  house  of  dream 
to  the  field  of  dreamlessness,  we  find  a  complete 
change  of  scene.  Dreamlessness  is  a  unique 
experience;  it  is  a  state  of  intense  passivity, 
peace,  and  silence.  We  cannot  say  that  the  ego 
did  not  exist  in  the  dreamless  state,  for  on 
waking  it  recollects  that  it  slept  soundly  and 
peacefully ;  neither  can  it  be  said  that  the  ego 
was  unconscious  at  that  moment,  because n  the 
memory  was  actively  recording  the  absence  of 
any  phenomenal  experience,  and  that  is  why 
the  dreamer  says  on  waking,  "I  did  not  dream." 
Jireamlessneaa  is  therefore  the  consciousness  of 
negation,  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  entire 
field  of  consciousness  was  empty  of  all  content, 
because  there  was,  at  the  moment,  a  conscious- 
ness of  rest,  quiet,  and  delight.  It  is  an  experi- 
ence in  which  the  function  of  the  ego  changes. 
It  no  longer  feels  the  pressure  from  the  world 
of  other  egos  or  from  the  world  of  sights  and 
sounds.  It  fails  to  objectify  itself,  and  thus  for- 
gets its  relation  to  the  world  and  society ;  it  is 
no  longer  a  subject,  because  the  dreamless  ego 
is  unconscious  of  its  mental  and  moral  attributes. 
During  deep  sleep  kings  no  longer  remember 
that  they  are  kings,  the  sinner  forgets  his  sin 
and  the  saint  his  holiness.  In  one  way  only  the 
dreamless  ego  retains  its  subjective  character, 
viz.  it  is  conscious  of  the  experience  of  restful 
joy  due  to  the  temporary  cessation  of  all  brain 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  113 

activity.  The  light  of  consciousness  is  turned 
back  upon  itself,  and  in  its  own  light  it  sees  the 
surrounding  gloom  of  nothingness. 

It  may  seem  to  you  that  this  third,  or  dream- 
less state,  is  the  last  state  of  the  ego ;  but  that 
is  not  the  case.  Beyond  this  there  is  another 
state,  known  to  the  Rishis  by  the  name  of 
Turiya,  which  is  called  the  fourth  or  last  state  of 
the  soul.  There  are  no  words  to  express  the 
idea  of  the  Turiya  state.  It  may  be  called  the 
transcendental  state  of  the  soul  because  it  tran- 
scends, or  goes  beyond  the  three  states  of  wake- 
fulness, dream, ,  and  dreamlessness.  It  is,  in 
fact,  not  a  state  but  the  very  ground,  essence, 
and  substance  of  consciousness,  upon  which,  as 
I  pointed  out  at  the  beginning  of  my  lecture  this 
evening,  rests  the  Advaita  philosophy  of  San- 
kara.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  draw  a  line 
of  demarcation  between  the  third  and  fourth 
state  of  sound  sleep.  The  Turiya  is  the  point 
where  consciousness  becomes  identical  with 
existence  and  the  circle  of  thought  coincides 
with  the  circle  of  reality;  hence  it  would  be 
impossible  to  describe  it  by  any  symbol,  quality, 
or  attribute.  The  soul  sees  itself,  and  its  in- 
dividuality ceases,  it  becomes  universal,  one 
with  God.  Not  personal  God,  determined  by 
the  conditions  of  an  evolutionary  world  system, 
but  the  impersonal,  absolute  God,  called  in 
Vedanta,  Brahman. 

Imagine  for  a  moment  the  absolute  non- 
existence of  this  vast  world  of  sight  and  sound. 


114  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

What  remains  after  the  starry  universe  is  de- 
stroyed ?  A  vast  space.  Then  imagine  this  space 
to  be  devoid  of  ether  and  of  the  subtile  seeds 
of  creation.  Perfect  stillness  reigns  supreme 
over  the  ocean  of  universal  space,  beginningless 
and  endless.  What  supports  it.'*  It  is  self- 
supported,  self-dependent,  lifeless,  motionless, 
soundless,  colourless.  From  this  analogy  you 
can  conceive  the  state  of  the  soul  in  Turiya. 
The  soul  in  Turiya  does  not  see,  yet  is  not  blind ; 
does  not  hear,  yet  is  not  deaf ;  does  not  reason, 
yet  is  not  irrational;  does  not  exist,  yet  is  not 
non-existent;  it  goes  beyond  the  bounds  of 
space,  time,  idea,  feeling,  thought,  and  reality. 
The  Rishi  describes  it  in  his  mystical  language 
as  "neither  inwardly  conscious  nor  outwardly 
conscious,  neither  conscious  both  inwardly  and 
outwardly,  nor  is  it  massive  consciousness, 
neither  conscious  nor  unconscious,  what  none 
can  see,  nor  apprehend,  nor  understand,  without 
mark,  unthinkable,  past  definition,  nought  but 
self-conscious  alone  that  ends  all  evolution, 
peaceful,  good  and  non-dual.  This  is  the  Self, 
this  must  be  known."  ^ 

Every  time  that  we  enjoy  deep  sleep  we  touch 
the  sphere  of  our  eternal  glory.  The  rhythm 
of  nature  throws  us  on  to  the  timeless  shores  of 
immortality.  The  soul  plays  with  herself,  free 
and  joyous,  on  the  fields  of  her  own  glory,  and 
there  the  music  of  the  spheres  is  hushed  into  the 
beauty  of  silence.     Leaving  her  harp,  the  muse 

^  Mandukya  Upanishad,  7. 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  115 

enters  into  the  lotus-chamber  of  the  heart  of 
contemplation. 

This  Turiya,  or  the  absolute  Self,  of  which 
we  half  unconsciously  obtain  a  glimpse  in  deep 
sleep,  driven  thence  by  the  necessity  of  the 
body's  mechanism,  must  be  realised  in  Yoga, 
or  religious  meditation  and  ecstasy.  I  say  "un- 
consciously," because  we  rise  out  of  profound 
sleep  without  knowing  that  we  were  blessed  with 
the  beatific  vision  of  the  Self-Divine.  Sleep  is 
an  avenue  of  unconscious  self-knowledge ;  Yoga 
is  the  avenue  of  intensely  conscious  self-know- 
ledge. It  is  for  this  reason  that  I  said  the 
promise  of  Advaita  lies  embedded  in  the  psy- 
chology of  deep  sleep  and  its  fulfilment  in  the 
experience  of  Samadhi.  As  Turiya  is  the  fourth 
state  of  the  soul,  so  Samadhi  is  the  fourth  stage 
of  Sadhana,  or  religious  aspiration  and  effort. 
The  first  stage  of  religious  life  is  dispassion 
(Vairagya),  or  the  conscious  effort  of  the  soul 
to  shake  off  the  influence  of  matter  and  the 
acquired  disposition  to  delight  in  the  pleasures 
of  the  body.  The  second  stage  is  discrimination 
(Viveka),  or  the  intellectual  realisation  that  the 
Self-Divine  is  the  only  Reality  and  the  only 
Truth,  all  else  mere  nothing.  The  third  stage 
is  called  Absorption  (Dhyana),  or  the  continuous 
dwelling  of  the  mind  on  the  glory  and  substance 
of  the  Self-Divine.  The  fourth  and  last  stage 
of  religious  life  is  Samadhi,  or  the  realisation  of 
oneness  with  the  Divine  in  pure  consciousness 
and  perfect  freedom.     The  four  states  of  our 


116  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

psychic  life,  viz.  (1)  waking,  in  which  we  are 
conscious  of  the  outward  universe ;  (2)  dreaming, 
in  which  we  are  conscious  of  the  inward  universe ; 
(3)  dreamlessness,  in  which  we  are  unconscious 
of  the  inward  and  outward  universe;  and  (4) 
Turiya,  in  which  we  are  self-conscious  in  the 
absolute  sense,  —  these  four  states  correspond  to 
the  four  stages  of  the  Yoga  life  of  the  religious 
aspirant,  viz.  (1)  conquest  of  the  objective  world 
of  sense  and  emotion,  (2)  conquest  of  the  sub- 
jective world  of  intellect  and  reason,  (3)  conquest 
of  the  subtile  world  in  which  the  first  two  lie 
in  seed  form,  and  (4)  freedom  in  the  identity  of 
Self  with  God. 

In  our  analysis  of  the  states  of  waking,  dream, 
and  dreamlessness,  we  discovered  that  the  self 
does  not  know  itself  although  it  knows  the  other. 
By  "other"  I  mean  the  object  or  presentation 
in  consciousness.  In  waking,  the  self  knows  the 
physical ;  in  dreaming,  the  mental  world ;  and  in 
dreamlessness,  the  absence  of  the  presentation 
itself.  In  all  the  three  states  it  stands  watching, 
witnessing  the  play  of  fancies,  desires,  and  images 
in  the  mind.  This  watchful,  witnessing  self  is 
called  Samvit.  Whether  we  are  ill  or  well,  at 
work  or  play,  asleep  or  awake,  this  "inner 
witness"  never  loses  sight  of  our  thoughts  and 
actions.  This  Samvit  is  quite  wide  awake  when 
the  physical  brain  is  stunned,  or  during  what  is 
popularly  known  as  unconsciousness,  trance,  or 
fainting.  From  the  moment  of  birth  to  the 
moment  of  death,  through  the  rough  and  smooth 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  117 

experiences  of  life,  Samvit  remains  the  same  — 
self-luminous,  self -active,  self -regulating.  Hence 
it  is  reasonable  to  assume  that  it  is  independent 
of  brain  and  body,  and  therefore  independent 
of  what  we  call  life  and  death.  The  Samvit  is 
like  the  flame  of  a  candle,  burning  and  illumining 
perpetually,  its  brightness  undiminished  by  that 
which  envelops  it.  Try  however  hard  you  may, 
you  cannot  put  out  the  light  of  your  own  con- 
sciousness. If  you  extinguish  it  in  one  sphere, 
that  same  moment  it  is  sure  to  shine  in  another 
sphere,  like  the  sun  which  sets  in  the  western, 
to  rise  again  in  the  eastern  sky,  undiminished 
in  glory  and  effulgence.  The  scenes  in  the 
theatre  change,  the  actors  come  and  go,  but  the 
illuminating  lamp  burns  all  the  while.^ 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  characteristics 
of  the  first  three  psychical  states  is  the  unknow- 
ability  of  the  real  "I."  In  waking  we  become 
acquainted  with  the  stream  of  consciousness  — 
not  with  the  bed  or  the  basin  of  the  stream. 
This  stream  of  consciousness  consists  of  a  surface- 
current  and  an  under-current ;  the  former  is  the 
sensation-continuum  of  auditory,  visual,  tactual, 
olfactory,  and  gustatory  sensations,  while  the 
latter  is  the  ideal  continuum  of  motives,  feelings, 
and  thoughts.  The  sensation-continuum,  when 
projected  into  the  vacuum  of  space,  produces 
pictures  of  the  fixed  and  stable  world,  and  when 
projected  into  time,  produces  the  world  of  move- 
ment.    The  mind  creates  this  dual  world  by 

^  See  Appendix. 


118  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

projecting  this  sensation-continuum  on  to  the 
screen  of  time  and  space.  The  ideal-continuum 
is  also  a  superimposition  of  the  ego  of  interests 
and  feelings  relating  to  the  preservation  of  our 
bodily  life.  In  a  way  we  seem  to  be  aware  of 
these  two,  the  sensation-continuum  and  the 
ideal-continuum,  the  surface-current  and  the 
under-current  of  the  stream  of  consciousness. 
But  we  know  nothing  of  the  self  on  which  and 
within  which  our  thoughts  move  and  the  space 
in  which  the  physical  world  hangs.  To  use  a 
familiar  illustration :  when  you  witness  a  play 
in  a  cinema  theatre,  you  cannot  see  the  machine 
or  the  man  (while  you  sit  among  the  audience), 
neither  can  you  see  the  background  upon  which 
the  images  of  men  and  women,  railways  and 
steamships,  are  moving.  Similarly,  in  waking 
and  in  dreaming  we  are  ignorant  of  the  soul,  i.e. 
the  subjective  substratum,  on  which  the  mind 
rests.  What  happens  in  the  dreamless  state? 
Just  what  happens  in  the  cinema  theatre  when 
the  machine  stops  and  the  lights  in  the  audi- 
torium are  extinguished.  You  are  surrounded 
on  all  sides  by  darkness  and  feel  that  you  only 
are  there,  by  yourself,  alone.  The  ignorance 
of  the  waking  and  dreaming  states  takes  a 
massive  form  and  prevents  the  soul  from  know- 
ing anything  outside  the  knowledge  of  its  own 
identity. 

This  brings  us  to  the  consideration  of  the 
doctrine  of  error  (Avidya).  Knowledge  and 
error  are  as  inevitably  combined  as  light  and 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  119 

darkness.  If  you  ask  me,  What  is  error?  I 
will  reply  by  asking  a  counter  question,  What 
is  darkness  ?  It  is  only  possible  to  define  dark- 
ness by  negatives.  Similarly  error  can  only  be 
defined  by  saying  that  it  is  the  want  of  knowledge. 
In  fact,  the  word  knowledge  has  only  a  relative 
sense,  for  it  implies  error;  for  this  reason  the 
Vedanta  says  that  Avidya  is  perpetual.  This 
doctrine  of  error,  or  nescience,  is  the  keynote 
to  Vedanta  epistemology.  I  will  try  to  explain 
it  as  clearly  as  I  can.  When  you  say,  "I 
know,"  you  imply  at  the  same  time  that  "I 
do  not  know."  This  sounds  paradoxical,  but 
it  is  true.  For  instance,  when  you  say,  "This 
is  the  sky,"  you  mean  that  the  blue  vault  over- 
head is  called  sky  and  that  it  looks  blue.  This 
is  all  you  know ;  but  you  do  not  know  of  what 
the  thing  called  "sky"  is  composed,  nor  how 
old  it  is ;  you  do  not  know  its  length  and  breadth, 
nor  who  made  it,  nor  do  you  know  the  many 
other  qualities  which  it  may  possess.  Similarly 
with  all  the  things  of  this  earth ;  there  are  always 
certain  attributes,  or  aspects,  which  remain 
unknown  to  our  intellects.  This  our  body,  so 
near  to  us  —  do  we  profess  to  understand  its 
nature,  its  working,  and  the  laws  which  govern 
its  origin,  growth,  and  decay?  The  wisest 
among  our  scientists  is  ignorant  of  the  mystery 
of  life.  We  know  a  little,  but  there  is  a  great 
deal  which  we  do  not  know.  Avidya  is  not  the 
negation  of  knowledge,  it  is  the  negative  element 
present  in  knowledge.    For  instance,  we  some- 


120  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

times  say  we  are  certain  that  we  do  not  know 
such  and  such  a  thing ;  just  as  in  mathematics 
one  presupposes  "zero,"  so  in  Vedanta,  Vidya 
(knowledge)  presupposes  Avidya  (error).  The 
function  of  Avidya  is  to  offer  a  perpetual  opposi- 
tion to  Vidya,  but  such  is  the  beautiful  economy 
of  our  inner  nature  that  Vidya  is  continually 
overcoming  Avidya,  and  the  reign  of  knowledge 
is  ever  expanding. 

If  we  inquire  into  the  origin  of  error  we  shall 
not  arrive  at  any  answer.  Whence  this  error 
that  accompanies  us  all  our  lives  ?  Why  this 
error  at  all  ?  Will  it  ever  end  ?  We  cannot  deny 
that  our  intellects  are  at  every  step  shadowed 
by  the  fear  of  error;  our  forgetfulness,  our 
tendency  to  exaggerate,  our  liability  to  decep- 
tion, all  these  come  under  the  term  Avidya.  In 
theology,  Avidya  appears  as  "sin,"  or  "original 
sin."  In  ethics,  Avidya  goes  under  the  name  of 
"evil"  or  "immorality."  In  aesthetics,  Avidya 
is  called  "ugliness"  or  "the  unbeautif ul " ;  in 
logic,  Avidya  is  fallacy ;  in  metaphysics,  Avidya 
is  called  phenomenon ;  in  practical  life,  Avidya 
touches  us  in  the  guise  of  pain,  disappointment, 
sorrow,  and  misery.  When  a  friend  misunder- 
stands your  language,  it  is  because  his  mind  is 
clouded  by  Avidya,  or  because  Avidya  prevents 
you  from  using  the  right  words. 

Our  very  notions  of  "life"  and  "death,"  of 
"right"  and  "wrong,"  of  "pleasant"  and  "un- 
pleasant" are  the  products  of  Avidya.  There 
is  no  absolute  standard  in  the  world  of  Avidya ; 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  121 

one  Avidya  makes  man  think  that  he  is  the  lord 
of  creation,  but  wait  and  see  how  another 
Avidya  appears  in  the  form  of  an  infinitesimally 
small  insect,  a  microbe  of  typhus,  which  humili- 
ates him  to  death.  Great  nations  of  warriors 
who  conquered  the  world  have  been  blotted  out 
of  existence  by  insects  and  microbes.  What  is 
all  this  but  the  magic  of  Avidya?  Who  can 
understand  the  growth  of  man  from  the  proto- 
plasm ?  Waking  is  no  less  Avidya  than  dream- 
ing. Man  becomes  a  philosopher  only  when  he 
understands  his  inability  to  understand. 

Is  Avidya  real  or  unreal.?  In  other  words, 
is  an  illusion  real  or  unreal  ?  This  question  may 
be  illustrated  by  an  example.  We  all  say,  "The 
sky  is  blue,"  but  we  know  it  is  an  optical  illusion ; 
the  sky  has  no  colour.  Again  we  say,  "  The  sky 
meets  the  earth  at  the  horizon."  This  also  is 
an  illusion;  the  sky  appears  like  an  arch  but 
is  not  so.  These  two  attributes  of  the  sky,  viz, 
blueness  and  curve,  are  not  real  and  do  not  exist 
at  all,  and  yet  we  seem  to  think  that  they  are 
real.  If  we  abstract  or  take  away  these  two 
seeming  attributes  from  the  sky,  what  remains  ? 
Nothing  but  the  vast  space  signified  by  the  name 
"sky."  This  example  shows  the  true  function 
of  Avidya,  viz.  it  makes  the  unreal  appear  as 
real,  the  non-existent  appear  as  existent ;  blue- 
ness and  curve  do  not  exist  in  the  sky,  but 
Avidya  conjures  them  up  and  holds  them  before 
our  vision.  At  the  same  time  there  can  be  no 
illusion  without  a  real  substratum;    the  sub- 


122  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

stratum  of  sky  is  necessary  in  order  to  produce 
the  illusion  of  blue  colour  and  curve;  if  there 
were  no  sky,  there  could  not  have  been  the 
appearance  of  blueness  and  curve.  Just  try  to 
think  of  these  two  attributes  as  existing  without 
a  sky  to  support  them ;  you  cannot  think  in  that 
way.  Take  another  example.  When  ski-ing  on 
the  snow-clad  hills  of  Norway,  I  have  often  seen 
a  figure  on  the  distant  hill-top.  My  first  impres- 
sion suggested  that  it  was  a  bear,  but  as  I  pro- 
ceeded it  seemed  to  resemble  a  man;  when  I 
began  ascepding,  I  discovered  that  it  was  only 
a  tree.  First  the  idea  of  a  bear  frightened  me ; 
next  the  idea  of  meeting  a  fellow-traveller  con- 
soled me ;  and  lastly,  when  I  discovered  that  it 
was  a  tree,  I  laughed  at  myself.  These  illusions 
illustrate  the  nature  of  the  working  of  Avidya; 
it  makes  the  unreal  appear  as  real  and  super- 
imposes illusory  images  upon  a  real  thing.  In 
the  first  example  the  blue  colour  rested  upon 
the  sky,  and  in  the  second  example  the  illusory 
image  of  a  man  rested  upon  the  tree.  Many 
other  examples  of  illusory  perception  may  be 
cited,  but  this  general  rule  will  hold  good  in 
each  case. 

The  same  Avidya  is  at  work  within  our  minds, 
but  it  is  not  so  evident  as  in  the  case  of  sense 
perception.  But  when  we  practise  introspection, 
we  soon  find  that  Avidya  is  lurking  in  our  minds 
also.  For  instance,  our  belief  in  our  own  ego 
is  a  belief  in  point.  We  all  believe  that  each  one 
of  us  possesses  a  separate  ego,  each  one  imagines 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  123 

that  he  is  engaged  in  some  work,  that  he  is 
enjoying  or  suffering.  If  I  am  asked  where  I 
see  the  working  of  Avidya  here,  I  reply  that  it 
is  Avidya  which  makes  each  one  feel  as  though 
he  or  she  were  an  enjoyer  of  pleasures,  a  doer  of 
deeds,  or  a  sufferer  of  pain.  It  is  Avidya  that 
makes  us  feel  awake,  or  asleep,  or  dreaming. 
These  illusory  states  are  superimposed  upon  the 
universal,  unchangeable,  eternal  "I"  which  is 
the  real  "Self,"  of  which  we  have  a  glimpse  in 
Turiya.  Illusion  does  not  last  long ;  it  vanishes 
from  the  mind  as  soon  as  discovered,  although 
it  may  continue  to  have  an  objective  existence 
for  others.  One  of  the  great  tests  of  illusion 
is  that  it  changes :  those  who  have  studied 
physical  science  see  the  blueness  of  the  sky  just 
as  those  do  to  whom  the  illusion  has  not  been 
pointed  out,  but  for  them  it  has  no  existential 
value.  The  proof  that  the  real  eternal  "I"  is 
quite  distinct  from  the  narrow  individual  *'I" 
consists  in  the  constant  change  to  which  the 
latter  is  liable.  We  know  that  sometimes  we 
feel  very  happy  and  say  to  ourselves,  "I  am 
enjoying  life!"  Again,  at  other  times,  we  feel 
miserable,  and  say  to  ourselves,  *'  I  am  unhappy." 
Or  again,  at  other  moments,  a  feeling  of  peace 
comes  over  us.  Which  of  these  is  the  real  "I"  ? 
The  happy  "I,"  the  unhappy  "I,"  or  the  peace- 
ful "  I "  ?  Then,  again,  sometimes  we  are  awake 
and  active,  at  other  times  we  are  asleep  and 
passive.  Which  is  the  real  "I,"  the  wakeful 
"I,"  or  the  sleeping  "I"?    Sometimes  we  are 


124  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

clever,  sometimes  bright,  and  sometimes  dull; 
which  is  the  real  *'I,"  the  dull  *'I,"  the  bright 
"I,"  or  the  clever  "I"?  There  is  a  clear  line 
of  demarcation  between  the  changeless  *'I'* 
which  stands  at  the  back,  and  the  changing 
"I"  which  acts,  enjoys  and  suflFers,  wakes, 
sleeps  and  dreams.  This  changing  "I"  is  the 
illusory  offspring  of  Avidya,  and  the  changeless 
"I"  is  the  eternal  Self,  the  Atman,  the  Brahman. 

Just  as  on  pure  space  the  two  attributes  of 
colour  and  curve  are  superimposed  by  Avidya, 
so  on  the  pure  consciousness  of  Brahman  are 
superimposed  the  attributes  of  enjoyment  and 
suffering,  activity  and  passivity,  thought  and 
will,  life  and  death,  by  Avidya.  And  just  as  we 
discover  from  our  physical  science  that  real 
space  is  without  colour  and  without  form,  so 
from  our  knowledge  derived  from  the  Guru  and 
the  Vedanta  we  discover  that  the  real  and  true 
Self  is  birthless  and  deathless  and  changeless, 
neither  enjoys  nor  suffers,  but  is  One,  identical 
with  Itself,  universal  and  eternal. 

Avidya  makes  us  believe  that  we  are  many, 
in  reality  the  Self  is  One  —  one  vast,  indivisible, 
limitless  consciousness,  appearing  as  separate 
centres  of  consciousness  in  each  individual.  The 
very  idea  that  we  are  individuals  is  an  illusion, 
for  what  is  the  essence  of  individuality  ?  Con- 
sciousness. How  can  consciousness  be  bounded 
by  space  and  time,  body  and  mind  ?  The  proof 
of  this  is  sought  in  our  experience  of  the  Turiya, 
when  not  a  shadow  of  individuality  lingers  with- 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  125 

in  the  field  of  consciousness.  The  belief  that 
you  are  embodied  is  only  a  habit  of  thought, 
fostered  by  ignorance ;  the  real  self  which  re- 
veals itself  in  Turiya  has  no  body,  is  neither  old 
nor  young,  neither  ill  nor  in  health,  neither  poor 
nor  rich,  but  is  the  self  identical  with  the  Self. 

The  whole  of  experience  extending  from  the 
waking  to  the  dreamless  state  is  Avidya's  field 
of  operation.  At  this  point  it  may  perhaps  be 
asked.  Is  the  whole  of  life  a  mere  illusion  ?  To 
this  question  I  shall  not  attempt  to  give  a 
definite  answer. 

There  was  once  a  King  who  devoted  himself 
to  the  study  of  the  Vedanta,  and  being  persuaded 
that  this  life  had  no  real  existence  and  was 
therefore  valueless,  he  spent  all  his  time  in  medi- 
tation and  neglected  his  Queen  and  the  affairs 
of  state.  One  day,  noticing  her  royal  husband's 
indifference,  the  Queen  inquired  whether  any- 
thing had  occurred  to  keep  the  King  away  from 
those  whom  he  loved  so  dearly.  To  this  the 
King  replied  that  nothing  had  occurred  except 
that  all  the  world  appeared  to  him  a  mere 
nothing,  an  illusion.  "The  kingdom  is  a 
phantom,"  he  said.     Then  the  Queen  asked : 

"Is  all  that  we  see  an  illusion?" 

**Yes,"  he  replied. 

"Are  our  children  also  an  illusion?"  she 
asked. 

"Yes." 

"Am  I  an  illusion?" 

"Yes." 


126  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

**Then  is  not  the  King  himself  an  illusion?" 

At  this  he  hesitated  before  replying,  and 
the  Queen,  perceiving  his  embarrassment,  said, 
*'Are  there  not  some  illusions  which  are  useful? 
And  if  so,  would  it  not  be  as  well  to  act  as  though 
they  were  real  for  the  time  being?" 

Then  the  King,  recognising  his  mistake,  was 
obliged  to  acknowledge  that  the  Queen  was 
right. 

By  this  it  will  be  seen  that  all  is  not  illusion, 
for  according  to  the  Vedantic  theory,  error  im- 
plies truth,  illusion  implies  reality.  The  unreal 
life,  which  is  true  for  all  time,  floats  mysteriously 
upon  the  real  life,  which  is  true  for  all  eternity. 
For  the  time  being  this  unreal  life  of  action  is 
to  be  taken  for  a  fact  —  a  sort  of  provisional 
hypothesis  having  a  pragmatical  value.  But  all 
the  events  of  life  are  facts  of  illusion.  Our 
social  endeavours,  our  government,  our  wars, 
our  peace,  our  morals,  our  literature  and  science, 
are  facts  within  Avidya.  They  are  unreal  — 
when  we  rise  above  them  and  behold  our  own 
reality.  Just  as  in  dream  we  see  images  and 
for  the  moment  believe  them  to  be  real,  but 
when  we  awake  from  sleep  we  realise  that  we 
have  been  dreaming;  similarly,  as  long  as  we 
lead  the  life  of  ignorance  we  take  all  things  to 
be  real,  but  when  we  awake  in  Yoga  Samadhi 
we  realise  that  the  things  of  sense  are  mere 
shadows,  and  the  pains  that  we  suffer,  the 
crosses  that  we  bear,  appear  as  nothing  when 
the  soul  enters  into  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  127 

If  it  is  asked,  "Is  the  soul  unreal?  For  if 
the  three  states  of  waking,  dreaming,  and  dream- 
lessness  are  illusory  productions,  then  why  does 
it  not  follow  that  even  the  idea  of  a  soul  is 
erroneous  ?  "  I  reply  that  if  you  think  that  the 
soul  is  somewhere  located  in  the  body,  or  that  it 
is  conditioned  by  time,  space,  and  mental  modifi- 
cations, then  it  is  an  erroneous  belief.  The  idea 
that  souls  are  many,  that  they  suffer  or  enjoy, 
that  they  are  born  and  die,  or  that  they  possess 
bodies,  is  called  in  Sanscrit  Jiva  bhava.  Avidya 
is  responsible  for  this  Jiva  bhava,  or  the  notion 
of  being  an  individual.  Avidya  superimposes 
this  Jiva  bhava  upon  Brahman  —  the  eternal 
consciousness  of  God.  Avidya  has  the  power 
to  make  the  eternal,  imperishable  Brahman  look 
as  though  he  were  mortal,  having  a  body  and 
liable  to  the  accidents  of  earthly  life.  Just  as 
the  sky,  though  in  reality  without  shape  and 
colour,  appears  to  us  as  having  a  curved  shape 
and  a  blue  colour,  so  the  universal  Brahman 
appears  to  us,  i.e.  to  our  Avidya-tainted  minds, 
as  Jiva.  But  as  by  studying  science  we  learn 
that  the  sky  is  a  vast,  illimitable  space,  without 
shape  or  colour,  so  by  studying  the  Vedas  we 
learn  that  Brahman  is  the  One  Eternal  Truth 
and  Bliss  of  existence. 

Our  fundamental  position  is  that  existence 
is  knowledge.  Avidya  consists  in  thinking  of 
non-existence  as  existence.  Reality  co-exists 
with  eternity.  All  that  we  perceive  exists  in 
time  and  space.     Whenever  we  think  that  a 


128  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

thing  exists,  we  think  it  has  been  caused  by 
something  else ;  in  other  words,  we  cannot  think 
of  a  thing  as  causeless.  This  kind  of  thinking 
is  Avidya-thinking,  therefore  our  physical  organ- 
ism is  the  product  of  Avidya-thought,  The 
physical  organism  exists  as  long  as  our  judgment 
is  fettered  by  Avidya.  More  than  that :  even 
when  ignorance  is  dispelled  by  Vedantic  know- 
ledge, the  body  of  the  Yogi  continues  to  live, 
just  as  when  we  are  told  by  our  professors  that 
the  sky  is  without  shape  and  colour  we  con- 
tinue to  see  curved  space  and  blue  colour  in  the 
sky,  for  the  momentum  of  Avidya  lasts  for  some 
time  after  disillusionment.  We  all  know  that 
the  physical  body  is  ephemeral  and  that  it  will 
die,  yet  we  are  still  anxious  to  preserve  it.  But 
even  after  the  death  of  the  physical  body  there 
is  no  escape  from  Avidya ;  as  in  sleep  the  ego 
dreams  nonsensical  dreams,  so  after  death  the 
ego  goes  on  believing  in  its  own  individuality. 
As  the  ego  (Jiva)  wanders  helplessly  from 
waking  to  dreamland,  and  from  dreamland  to 
the  quiet  valley  of  deep  sleep,  so  the  soul,  over- 
come by  Avidya,  wanders  helplessly  from  exist- 
ence to  existence,  from  experience  to  experience. 
The  memories  of  pain  and  pleasure,  experienced 
in  past  lives,  continue  to  unfold  themselves  in 
the  actuality  of  embodied  existence.  Can  we 
resist  our  inclination  to  work  and  our  inclination 
to  rest  ?  No,  we  are  quite  helpless,  we  eat  and 
sleep  because  we  cannot  do  otherwise.  Similarly 
we  are  born  and  we  shall  pass  away,  because 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  129 

we  have  no  control  over  the  creative  and  de- 
structive powers  of  Karma.  We  are  the  creatures 
of  our  desires,  the  creatures  of  heredity,  of  the 
civilisation  of  our  age  and  environment.  In  a 
word,  we  are  the  slaves  of  illusion. 

This  doctrine  of  Avidya  sounds  very  hopeless. 
It  seems  to  rob  us  of  our  dignity,  of  our  glory, 
of  our  wisdom,  and  of  our  independence;  yet 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  doctrine  exposes 
rather  ruthlessly  the  faulty  structure  of  our 
psychical  being.  Life  is  not  as  beautiful  as  it 
looks.  Open  a  book  on  medicine  and  observe 
the  number  of  diseases  to  which  the  body  is 
liable,  it  will  then  seem  a  miracle  that  we  are 
still  alive.  Read  history  and  take  note  of  the 
woful  mistakes  committed  by  men. 

It  is  not  my  object  to  preach  pessimism,  but 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  nature  aflPords  little 
encouragement  for  optimism.  The  business  of 
philosophy  is  to  interpret  experience.  Man 
wants  Truth,  and  where  are  we  to  find  supreme 
truth,  that  truth  which  alone  can  save  us  ?  The 
Vedanta  says,  "Look  within." 

Human  experience  is  a  mixture  of  good  and 
evil,  light  and  shadow;  beyond  this  lies  the 
true  Self,  identical  with  God,  which  is  the  "  non- 
imperceptible  "  (aparoksha)  principle  of  con- 
sciousness. The  reason  why  the  true  Self  is 
called  "non-imperceptible"  is  because  it  is 
neither  perceived  not  yet  unperceived;  pure 
consciousness  is  the  ground  of  perceiving  the 
ego  and  the  non-ego,  both  of  which  are  the  twin 


130  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

offspring  of  Avidya.  We  have  to  reach  the  Self, 
the  knowledge  of  which  will  free  us  from  the 
experiences  of  waking,  dream,  and  dreamless- 
ness.  Knowledge  alone  can  save.  Not  know- 
ledge in  the  philosophic  or  scientific  sense,  but 
the  knowledge  of  our  oneness  with  God  which 
is  Mukti,  or  Liberation. 

If  the  knowledge  of  the  true  Self  brings  libera- 
tion from  the  net  of  cosmic  error,  it  must  be 
proved  that  such  knowledge  is  possible.  How 
can  we  know  the  Atman  (the  Self-Divine)  who 
is  free  from  all  subjective  and  objective  attri- 
butes? For  knowledge  implies  a  division  of 
the  sphere  of  consciousness  into  subject,  which 
knows,  and  object,  which  is  known.  If  we  know 
Brahman  He  will  become  an  object  for  us.  To 
this  objection  it  may  be  replied  that  in  all  know- 
ing processes  there  is  a  third  factor  which  is 
neither  the  subject  nor  the  object ;  this  is  called 
the  Witness  (Sakshi) .  This  Sakshi  is  only  an  im- 
personal presence,  unconcerned  in  the  cognitive 
activity  of  the  subject.  What  is  called  "subject'* 
is  the  determinate,  or  maker,  of  object.  We 
know  that  the  subject  is  sometimes  attentive 
and  sometimes  inattentive,  sometimes  interested 
and  sometimes  indifferent.  Hence  the  subject 
may  be  said  to  be  in  an  inalienable  relation  of 
attention  and  interest  with  the  object.  But  such 
is  not  the  case  with  what  is  called  the  Sakshi,  or 
the  Witness,  which  is  not  a  faculty  nor  a  mode 
of  thought,  but  consciousness  pure  and  simple. 
Moreover  the  Sakshi  is  distinguished  from  the 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  131 

subject  by  its  non-individual  character.  The 
Sakshi  is  identical  with  itself,  whereas  the  sub- 
ject, even  in  the  same  person,  always  changes. 
Now  the  subject  is  a  thinker  of  plans,  at  other 
times  the  doer  of  deeds ;  but  the  Sakshi  is 
always  the  witness  standing  behind,  existing  by 
its  own  reality  and  shining  by  its  own  brilliance. 
In  sorrow  and  joy,  in  work  and  play,  the  witness 
stands  within.  There  is  another  point  which 
it  is  necessary  to  emphasise.  The  Sakshi  is 
universal  because  it  is  common  to  all.  I  cannot 
say  that  the  Sakshi  in  me  is  diflFerent  from  the 
Sakshi  in  you.  My  subjective  character  is 
different  from  your  subjective  character,  but 
the  Sakshi  is  the  same  in  all. 

The  reality  of  the  Sakshi  revealed  in  intro- 
spection supplies  us  with  the  keynote  to  libera- 
tion. It  may  be  that  we  are  not  all  sufficiently 
introspective  to  realise  what  is  meant  by  Sakshi ; 
but  every  one  who  has  a  desire  to  attain  to  the 
highest  truth  of  life  and  eternity  may  realise  it 
if  he  is  willing  to  take  the  trouble  (or  "make 
the  Tapasya"  or  "Sadhana,"  as  we  say  in  India) 
necessary  to  its  realisation.  The  preparation 
necessary  for  initiation  into  cosmic  conscious- 
ness involves  the  realisation  of  the  nothingness 
of  all  that  we  see.  The  lights  and  shadows  of 
existence  are  to  be  separated  from  pure  existence 
itself;  for  the  mind  is  constantly  weaving  the 
warp  and  woof  of  the  cosmos.  Each  fancy  that 
flits  across  the  horizon  of  the  mind  is  the  seed 
of  a  future  world.     Desire,  which  rises  like  a 


132  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

perpetual  spring  from  the  unknown  depths  of 
the  ego,  nourishes  this  seed  and  helps  to  germi- 
nate it,  and  this  seedling  becomes  the  tree  of  life. 
Our  bodies  contain  some  immortal  elements 
which  scientists  call  cells, which  are  now  acknow- 
ledged to  possess  a  germinal  consciousness. 
These  cells  have  kept  alive  the  species  of  all 
vegetable  and  animal  organisms.  In  the  same 
way,  Avidya  keeps  alive  the  seeds  of  desire  in  the 
store-room  of  the  Karana-sarira  (the  soul  in  its 
ultimate  form).  Hence  issues  the  stream  of 
transmigratory  life,  and  hence  proceed  all  our 
troubles  and  disappointments.  We  all  want  to 
know  what  we  are,  but  the  knowledge  of  our  true 
being  cannot  come  from  outside,  from  philo- 
sophy, from  religion,  or  from  science.  It  is 
always  with  us,  within  our  reach,  within  the 
reach  of  thought.  Every  act  of  perception  con- 
tains within  itself  the  eternity  of  Being.  It  is 
the  essence  of  our  enjoyment  of  art,  music,  and 
poetry.  It  is  the  root  of  our  love  for  God  and 
pity  for  man.  It  is  the  fact  of  the  existence  of 
God  and  humanity  in  one.  It  is  consciousness, 
it  is  existence,  it  is  joy.  We  have  a  faint 
experience  of  it  in  Turiya^  and  we  have  a  vivid 
experience  of  it  in  Samadhi. 

In  order  to  attain  to  the  consciousness  of  the 
Supreme  Self,  the  disciple  must  approach  a 
teacher  versed  in  Brahma- Wisdom.  To  be  a 
worthy  disciple  it  is  necessary  to  possess  four 
qualifications,  viz.  (1)  a  discriminative  intellect, 
(2)  controlled  will,  (3)  purified  emotions,  and  (4) 


V  MONISM:  ABSOLUTE  AND  COSMOS  133 

a  longing  for  liberation.     Without  devotion  to 
Brahman,  progress  is  not  possible. 

I  will  endeavour  to  explain  in  what  these  four 
qualifications  consist. 

(1)  The  disciple  should  constantly  meditate 
on  Brahman  as  the  only  Truth  to  be  attained, 
and  all  else  as  untruth. 

(2)  He  is  then  to  train  his  will.  The  will  is 
to  be  directed,  not  towards  the  appropriation  of 
what  is  agreeable  to  the  senses  and  desires,  but 
towards  the  realisation  of  the  highest  knowledge. 
He  is  to  desire  nought  of  earth  or  of  heaven, 
but  the  very  soul  of  Brahman.  This  means  the 
renunciation  of  all  work. 

(3)  Renunciation  of  work  will  conduce  to  the 
quieting  of  the  emotions.  Thus  he  will  cease 
to  desire  name,  fame,  or  worldly  happiness ;  he 
will  learn  to  uproot  from  his  heart  all  passions ; 
in  a  word,  he  will  turn  his  eyes  for  ever  from  the 
phenomenal  and  psychical  world.  This  will 
help  him  to  practise  forgiveness,  equanimity, 
and  same-sightedness. 

(4)  He  will  then  be  able  to  uproot  the  very 
idea  of  the  ego ;  for  the  notion  of  this  "I,"  this 
narrow,  mean  self,  is  the  greatest  stumbling- 
block  to  the  attainment  of  Divine  Wisdom. 

When  the  disciple  becomes  free  from  the  pride 
of  rank,  birth,  and  ego,  he  learns  to  value  the 
teachings  of  his  Guru.  Gradually  his  inner  eye 
opens  and  he  gets  an  insight  into  the  secret  of 
the  eternal  Consciousness,  and  then  only  he 
obtains  a  foretaste  of  liberation.    That  is  so 


134  BRAHMADARSANAM  v 

grand,  so  sublime,  so  wonderful  an  experience, 
that  the  disciple  cannot  help  longing  to  be 
emancipated  from  the  bondage  of  this  Avidya 
f  state.  The  consciousness  of  the  Absolute  is  the 
^  crown  and  glory  of  religious  consciousness ;  here 
we  are  to  seek  for  peace,  for  beauty,  and  for 
truth.  The  dream  of  life  ends  and  the  soul 
awakes  to  its  eternity,  conscious  of  a  surpassing 
restfulness,  born  of  the  very  Being  of  Truth. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Advaita  Brahma  Siddhi,  by  SadS,nandayati. 

Svarajya  Siddhi. 

Suresvar  Acharya's  Vritti. 

Nirvana  Shathak  of  Sankara. 

Vedantasara. 

Pratyabijnadarsana. 

Purusha  Sukta  (Rig  Veda). 

Apyaya  Dikshita's  Vedantakalpataru  Parimal. 

Vedanta  Paribhasa. 

Madhab  Acharya's  monograph  on  Sankara. 


VI 

MONISM:  REALISATION  OF  THE 
ABSOLUTE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE 

The  constituents  of  the  universe  —  Composition  of  the  spirit, 
the  soul,  and  the  body  —  The  six  circles  —  The  meaning  of 
Maya  —  Man's  freedom  —  Samkhya  verstis  Vedanta  —  Con- 
sciousness identical  with  reality. 

The  universe  is  the  expression  of  the  Divine. 
The  truth  of  life  is  also  the  truth  of  God.  There 
is  a  mind  behind  the  stellar  system.  All  this 
is  Brahman. 

Why  do  we  love  to  gaze  on  the  blue  canopy 
of  the  summer  sky,  the  many-coloured  flowers 
of  the  spring,  the  beautiful  faces  of  innocent 
children?  Why  do  we  love  to  listen  to  the 
symphony  of  the  orchestra,  the  music  of  the 
mountain  wind  playing  with  the  pine  trees,  the 
mighty  voice  of  lonely  waterfalls?  Why  does 
injustice  done  to  a  primitive  folk  in  some  distant 
corner  of  the  earth  rouse  us  to  indignation  and 
nerve  our  arm  to  repair  it  ?  Why  ?  —  Because 
the  same  Self  which  is  in  the  colour  of  the  sky 
and  the  sea,  in  the  odour  of  flowers  and  in  the 

135 


136  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

rhythm  of  poetry,  is  also  in  our  hearts.  There 
are  many  things,  many  forms,  many  names  — 
but  one  Life.     Verily  all  this  is  Brahman. 

The  Self  enjoys  and  the  Self  is  enjoyed.  The 
Self  feels  and  the  Self  is  felt.  The  Self  acts  and 
the  Self  is  acted  upon.  The  One  becomes  many, 
yet  remains  the  same.  I  am  speaking  and  you 
are  listening ;  yet  it  is  the  same  Atman  who  is 
speaking  in  me  and  listening  in  you.  In  the 
tree  there  are  many  very  small  cells,  each  one 
of  which  is  a  universe  in  itself,  having  a  different 
shape,  a  different  sap,  a  different  colour,  yet  all 
these  cells  form  one  tree,  having  one  life  and 
being  subject  to  one  sensitive  system.  Look  at 
the  animal  organism;  it  also  is  a  multiplicity 
of  universes,  an  infinite  number  of  what  is  called 
cell-souls.  All  these  cell-souls  cohere,  bound 
together  by  a  law  and  informed  by  a  life  which 
is  invisible.  Let  us  turn  our  eyes  on  to  the  work- 
ings of  Nature.  There  the  universal  Prana  (life) 
moves  on  the  surface  of  the  universal  Akasa, 
the  all-pervading  space. 

"This  universe  of  life,  mind,  and  matter  are 
modes  of  vibration  of  the  Universal  Reason"  — 
yat  bhutam  sthulam  suksam  cha  tatsarva  mana 
parispandita  mdtram,  as  Sankara  says.  This 
Universal  Reason  is  a  substantive,  quasi-ma- 
terial Life  principle  and  Mind,  but  diflFerent 
from  the  all-mirroring  Chaitanya  (Intelligence) 
which  is  immaterial  and  transcendent. 

The  circulation  of  Prana  is  the  most  wonder- 
ful fact  of  Nature.     All  the  bodies  of  living 


VI    MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    137 

animals  are  formed  out  of  the  Prana  of  ether. 
The  seaweeds  called  Algae,  by  using  their  chloro- 
phyll, draw  nourishment  from  sunbeams  and 
build  up  their  bodies,  which  are  eaten  up  by  the 
"copepod  plankton,"  upon  which  the  mackerel 
feeds,  and  man  eats  the  mackerel.  It  is  the 
same  with  vegetation  on  land.  The  entire 
economy  of  marine  as  of  land  life  depends  upon 
the  power  of  photo-synthesis  w^hich  vegetable 
life  is  supposed  to  possess.  Thus  we  see  that 
there  is  one  never-ending  substance  which  starts 
in  the  form  of  original  prana,  builds  up  the  ether 
particles,  becomes  sun  and  transforms  itself  into 
chlorophyll ;  these  transformations  are  followed 
by  a  series  of  incarnations,  viz.  the  minute  Algae, 
the  seaweeds,  the  fishes,  vegetation  on  land,  proto- 
plasm, animals,  and  man.  The  inorganic  world 
supports  the  organic,  and  the  latter  again  returns 
to  the  former.  Plant  and  animal  organisms  die 
and  their  remains  go  to  augment  the  store  of 
inorganic  matter.  All  forms  of  organisms  live 
through  photo-synthesis,  and  their  death  means 
photo-analysis.  Creation,  according  to  the 
Vedanta,isthe  evolution  of  latent  energy  (Anud- 
bhuta  Sakti)  in  a  new  collocation  (Avayava 
Sannivesa).  The  Prana  becomes  psychical, 
vegetable,  or  animal  organism,  according  as  it 
operates  under  the  conditions  of  ether,  air, 
heat,  or  light,  etc.  One  reaHty  assumes  the 
dual  form  of  cause  and  effect,  the  latter  being 
identical  with  the  former,  because  they  are 
one  in  essence,  for,  as  Ushasti  says,  "It  is  the 


138  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

Life  (Prana) ;  all  these  beings  —  organic  and 
inorganic,  visible  and  invisible — enter  into 
Life  and  unto  Life  do  they  arise." 

This  Prana,  which  is  the  formative  substance 
of  the  universe,  evolves  under  the  will  of  Isvara 
out  of  Akasa,  or  all-pervading  space.  We  are 
inclined  to  look  upon  space  as  blank  and  empty ; 
this  idea  of  Akasa  as  offering  no  resistance  {e.g. 
as  when  we  move  our  hand)  is  purely  negative. 
It  is  very  interesting  to  know  what  the  ancient 
Hindus  thought  about  Akasa,  for  they  delighted 
to  speculate  upon  its  origin  and  structure. 

As  it  is  difficult  to  understand  the  Vedantic 
cosmology  without  first  comprehending  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  from  Akasa,  I  shall 
briefly  sketch  Vijnana-Bhikshu's  views  on  the 
subject. 

Akasa  is  the  name  given  to  a  kind  of  primordial 
matter  which  possesses  neither  the  character- 
istics of  theTanmatras  nor  the  dynamic  qualities 
associated  with  the  Paramanus.  We  cannot  say 
that  it  possesses  impenetrability,  which  is  gener- 
ally supposed  to  be  the  primary  quality  ofmatter, 
but  it  is  ubiquitous.  It  is  certain  that  Akasa  is 
vibratory,  but  then  we  have  to  consider  Akasa 
in  its  twofold  aspect — original  and  derivative, 
the  first  forming  an  undifferentiated  mass  in 
nature,  while  the  latter  emanates,  on  the  original 
equilibrium  being  disturbed  at  the  beginning  of 
creation,  as  the  three  Gunas — sattva,  raja,  and 
tama —  in  definite  proportion,  so  as  to  build  up 
the  universe  through  transformation  of  energy. 


VI  MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    139 

All  the  species  of  things  arise  through  the  action 
of  cosmic  energy  upon  cosmic  mass. 

We  will  now  consider  the  first  product  of  the 
action  of  cosmic  energy  upon  cosmic  mass.  The 
subtile  Sabda  is  regarded  as  the  first  evolution. 
There  is  a  great  reason  for  supposing  that  the 
first  product  is  subtile  sound,  because  vibration 
cannot  continue  long  without  producing  sound. 
This  sound  is  not  exactly  what  we  perceive  with 
our  ears,  which  is  gross  sound.  This  idea  that 
Akasa  or  space  evolves  Sabda,  or  sound,  helps 
us  to  understand  how  Akasa  can  be  both  a  cause 
and  an  effect.  As  cause  it  is  the  empty  space,  so 
to  speak ;  as  effect,  it  is  the  subtile  sound.  This 
ancient  theory  receives  great  support  from 
modern  investigations  into  X-rays  and  ether. 

If  we  regard  electricity  as  a  vibratory  form 
of  ether  existing  in  vast  space,  we  have  no 
diflSculty  in  understanding  this  theory  of  Akasa. 

The  evolution  of  the  Tanmatras  as  well  as  of 
theMahabhutas  can  be  understood  in  the  follow- 
ing way.  It  will  help  us  to  follow  the  process 
if  we  remember  three  terms  :  (1)  A  Samavarana, 
or  a  surrounding  medium  or  "atmosphere" 
within  which  the  process  takes  place ;  (2)  Vikur- 
van,  by  which  is  meant  the  process  of  (a)  mass- 
disintegration  and  (6)  emanation ;  and  (3)  Upas- 
tambha,  or  transformation  and  redirection  of 
energy.  Thus,  mass  being  acted  upon  by  energy, 
disintegrates,  and  produces  the  Samavarana,  the 
Tanmatra  called  Sabda.  From  this  Sabda,  which 
is,  so  to  speak,  a  vibratory  infra-atom,  through 


140  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

condensation  and  collocation  and  accumulation 
of  mass  evolves  gross  ether  (gross  Akasa) .  From 
this  gross  ether,  by  the  same  process  of  disintegra- 
tion and  emanation  within  the  Sama  varana,  arises 
Sparsa  Tanmatra,  or  impact,  which  is  felt  by 
touch.  The  Sparsa  Tanmatra,  moved  by  impact 
and  accumulating  a  new  quantum  of  matter, 
through  condensation  and  collocation  evolves  the 
Marut  element,  which  is  the  ground  of  all  gaseous 
matter.  From  the  Marut  element,  now  charged 
with  energy,  vibration,  and  impact,  through  dis- 
integration and  emanation  under  the  influence 
of  energy  evolves  the  Rupa  Tanmatra,  which 
is  the  source  of  light,  heat,  and  colour. 

From  Rupa  Tanmatra,  charged  with  light,  etc., 
and  accumulating  mass,  through  condensation 
and  collocation  evolves  the  Tej  element,  which  is 
the  source  of  electricity.  From  this  Tej  element, 
by  the  same  process,  evolves  the  Rasa  Tanmatra, 
from  which  through  condensation  and  collocation 
arises  the  Ap  element,  which  is  the  basis  of  all 
liquids  and  of  caste-stimulus.  From  the  Ap  ele- 
ment through  disintegration  evolves  the  Gandha 
Tanmatra,  charged  with  four  Tanmatras,  and  is 
the  source  of  the  Ksiti  element,  the  ground  of 
all  solids  and  of  smell  stimulus. 

Here  we  may  notice  that  a  gross  element,  or 
Bhuta,  is  derived  from  a  subtile  element,  or 
Tanmatra,  and  that  each  successive  Bhuta  is 
endowed  with  the  attributes  of  all  the  preceding 
ones  in  addition  to  its  own  specific  qualities. 

The  universe,  including  the  vital  principle 


VI  MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    141 

which  is  associated  with  the  psychical  principle 
through  the  intermediary  of  what  is  called  the 
Great  Sympathetic,  has  evolved  out  of  the  same 
Akasa  under  the  guidance  of  Isvara,  the  Lord. 
The  human  being  is  not  a  simple  but  a  complex 
organism,  consisting  of  (1)  a  central,  (2)  an  inner, 
and  (3)  an  outer  body.  The  central  body  or 
the  spirit  is  the  Karana,  or  noumenal  self  — 
the  first  reflection  of  Brahman  in  the  mirror  of 
Avidya,  as  intuited  in  the  consciousness  of 
Susupti,  or  dreamless  sleep.  In  the  Karana  body 
the  Self  reveals  Itself  as  an  individual,  devoid  of 
all  Upadhi,  i.e.  unconditioned  byname  and  form. 
There  the  reflection  of  the  Divine  remains  buried 
within  the  gloom  of  nescience,  like  a  diamond 
within  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  or  a  seed  inside 
the  soil.  As  consciousness  and  brain  are  associ- 
ated together,  so  the  central  Karana  self  is 
joined  to  the  primal  Avidya.  The  consciousness 
which  is  lodged  in  the  Karana  body  remains  in 
a  non-differenced  form  which  may  be  compared 
to  the  mind  of  a  child  before  birth.  It  has  not 
yet  diffused  or  expanded  itself  over  the  dual 
field  of  "mine"  and  "thine."  The  reason  why 
it  is  said  in  the  Vedanta  that  the  reflection  of 
Brahman-consciousness  remains  surrounded  by 
nescience  is  that  the  Karana  body,  which  is 
formed  of  Prana-Akasa  substance,  does  not 
emerge  before  the  consciousness  in  its  true  light. 
When  we  are  lost  in  the  gloom  of  deep  sleep  we 
are  certainly  unaware  of  the  constitution  of  that 
which  covers  our  self -consciousness.    But  if  you 


142  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

ask  how  we  are  to  know  the  composition  of  the 
Karana  body  after  we  awake,  the  answer  is  to 
be  found  in  the  fact  that  the  nature  of  the  causal 
Akasa  is  "emptiness"  and  "all-pervasiveness," 
and  the  nature  of  Prana  is  to  "guide."  In 
dreamless  sleep  we  have  the  negative  experience 
of  a  "nothing,"  of  "empty  content,"  and  of  a 
sudden  expansion  of  the  essence  of  self.  Added 
to  this  there  is  another  experience  of  rest.  The 
life  principle,  or  Prana,  leaves  the  outer  organ- 
ism, the  plane  of  sensation  and  the  plane  of  will, 
rises  above  the  plane  of  higher  thought,  and  ulti- 
mately reaches  the  very  haven  of  peace.  Prana 
guides  itself  to  the  inner  sanctuary  of  bliss.  Thus 
it  is  evident  that  pure  consciousness  is  encircled 
by  the  ring  of  subtile  Prana  and  subtile  Akasa 
which  together  form  the  Karana  body.  The 
word  Karana  means  cause ;  it  is  called  Karana, 
or  causal  body,  because  it  is  composed  of  the 
substance  of  causal  Akasa  and  causal  Prana. 
There  is  another  reason  why  it  is  called  the 
Karana  body,  and  that  is  because  the  entire 
empirical  history  of  man  lies  here  in  its  potential 
form ;  just  as  causal  space  may  be  regarded  as 
the  mother  of  the  universe  which  unfolds  itself 
in  time  and  ether  as  the  stellar  and  solar  systems, 
so  the  seeds  of  life  history,  like  designs  on  a 
carpet,  lie  engraved  within  the  Karana  body, 
which  is  therefore  regarded  as  the  first  self- 
alienation  of  Brahman,  enduring  as  long  as  a 
complete  Kalpa  (or  cycle),  and  being  in  the  end 
absorbed  into  Brahman. 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    143 

The  Karana  body  is  called  Sakti-Atman  (the 
soul  containing  power  or  capacity),  and  Vija- 
atman  (the  soul  containing  the  seed  of  life  and 
the  functions  of  mind) .  Surrounding  the  Karana 
body,  and  next  in  order  to  it,  is  the  Suksma 
body  (soul),  which  is  the  seat  of  understanding 
and  volition.  The  five  senses  of  perception, 
the  five  senses  of  action,  and  the  five  vital  Pranas 
are  located  in  Mana,  or  Mind,  or,  as  it  is  some- 
times called,  the  Antakarana,  the  "inner  ruler." 
There  is  also  another  faculty  called  the  Buddhi, 
which  sometimes  functions  as  the  synthetic 
activity  in  perception,  and  sometimes  as  mind 
in  general.  Along  with  the  last  must  be  counted 
the  Ahamkar  —  the  sense  of  "I,"  or  self -con- 
sciousness — whose  ob  j  ect  is  the  practical  ego,  but 
which  is  in  its  turn  observed  in  the  intuitive  way 
by  the  eternal  "I,"  the  Samvit,  or  the  Sakshi. 

Surrounding  the  Suksma  body,  and  next  in 
order  to  it,  appears  the  Sthula,  or  gross  body  of 
flesh  and  blood  which  is  cast  off  at  death.  All 
these  three  bodies  are  regarded  as  outer  coatings, 
sheaths,  or  afliliations  (Upadhis)  of  the  Self. 
These  Upadhis  have,  no  less  than  the  universe, 
their  constituent  matter  Prana. 

Sarvam  prdnamayam  jag  at,  "all  the  universe 
is  filled  with  Prana."  All  creatures  have  arisen 
out  of  Prana  and  dwell  in  Prana.  The  Sthula 
body  is  the  physiological  system  containing  the 
six  principal  centres,  or  great  plexuses  of  the 
sympathetic  nerve  system,  which  are  called 
(1)  Muladhara,  (2)  Svadhisthana,  (3)  Manipura, 


144  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

(4)  Anahata,  (5)  Vishuddha,  (6)  Sahasrara. 
These  plexuses  are  connected  by  three  principal 
nerves.  All  the  faculties,  powers,  colours,  sounds, 
figures,  names,  have  their  seats  in  these  centres. 
This  subject  is  very  little  understood  in  the  West 
and  it  is  difficult  to  find  the  proper  technical 
terms  for  translating  this  system  of  the  six 
circles  into  any  European  language,  but  this 
much  I  can  say,  and  that  is  that  all  our  concep- 
tions of  life,  love,  art,  religion,  philosophy,  and 
liberation  arise  within  the  consciousness  through 
their  co-ordination  with  the  centre,  or  group  of 
centres,  plexus,  or  group  of  plexuses,  seated 
within  the  brain  and  the  great  sympathetic 
system  of  the  human  body. 

The  physiological  centres  contain  the  entire 
experience  of  the  race.  The  human  body  is  in 
one  aspect  the  crystallisation  of  the  hopes  and 
fears  and  achievements  of  the  race,  and  in  another 
aspect  the  expression  of  God's  mind.  Man  sees 
God  through  the  glasses  of  the  higher  physiologi- 
cal centres,  as  he  sees  the  cosmos  through  those 
of  the  lower  centres.  Each  of  these  Chakramas 
(centres)  contains  many  concentric  spheres,  and 
each  sphere  has  its  Deva  (spirit),  Varna  (light), 
Mantra  (sound),  and  its  Sakti  (power).  The 
first  may  be  the  seat  of  power,  the  second  the 
seat  of  love,  the  third  the  seat  of  knowledge, 
the  fourth  the  seat  of  renunciation,  the  fifth  the 
seat  of  liberation,  and  the  sixth  the  seat  of  the 
Absolute.  We  may  call  the  Shatchakram,  which 
is  situated  within  the  physiology  of  man,  the 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    145 

Tree  of  Life,  the  root  of  which  is  in  Brahman, 
the  Absolute.  This  Tree  of  Life  can  be  per- 
ceived by  those  in  whom  the  Kundahni  (the 
serpentine  power),  which  sleeps  inside  the  last 
circle,  or  Muladhar,  is  awakened. 

The  Yogi  knows  how  to  handle  the  Kundalini, 
which  is  the  lever  of  that  consciousness  in  which 
the  individual  realises  his  oneness  with  the 
Absolute.  The  possibility  of  man's  attaining  to 
perfect  ethical  consciousness,  as  well  as  to  super- 
human powers,  lies  in  the  Kundalini,  which  can 
transform  the  quality  and  direction  of  the  ac- 
tivity of  cell-life.  There  are  millions  of  brain- 
cells  that  are  lying  asleep.  An  absence  of  the 
moral  sense  implies  the  paralysis  of  certain  cells, 
just  as  bodily  ill-health  denotes  the  inactivity 
of  some  other  cells.  The  body  is  the  house  of 
Brahman ;  in  fact,  each  cell  holds  within  its 
Akasa  (ether)  an  image  of  Brahman.  Moreover, 
the  Prana  which  each  cell  contains  has  the  power 
to  realise  the  Absolute.  In  each  cell  there  is 
intellect,  will  and_  action  corresponding  to  Brah- 
man (Absolute),  Akasa  (space),  and  Prana  (life). 

The  world  is  a  form  of  consciousness,  and  the 
six  Darsanas  are  forms  of  consciousness  evoked 
by  the  six  circles  within  our  physiology.  With 
the  excitation  of  the  centre  of  pity,  we  feel  the 
warmth  of  universal  brotherhood  and  we  realise 
the  truth  of  Buddha's  teaching.  When  the 
centre  of  good  is  stimulated,  we  feel  "all  is  for 
good,"  and  thus  learn  the  inestimable  wisdom 
of  Siva's  teaching.     When  the  centre  of  power 


146  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

is  awakened,  we  realise  our  own  power  and 
appreciate  the  truth  of  Sakti's  saying  that  God 
is  omnipotent.  The  stimulation  of  the  centre 
faith  is  followed  by  a  consciousness  of  love 
for,  and  trust  in,  God,  and  we  are  converted  to 
Vishnu's  religion  that  God  is  love.  To  awaken 
the  consciousness  of  God  as  Light,  which  is 
Surya's  teaching,  the  centre  of  light  has  to  be 
excited.  Lastly,  to  realise  the  oneness  of  man 
with  Brahman,  which  is  Brahman's  teaching, 
the  centre  of  identity  is  to  be  awakened.  Thus 
these  centres  are  called  respectively  :  Bauddha, 
Saiva,  Sakta,  Vaisnava,  Soura,  and  Brahma, 
after  the  illustrious  sages  who  discovered  them. 
The  Shatchakram,  situated  within  the  Great 
Sympathetic  and  the  solar  plexus,  exercises  an 
architectural  power  by  presiding  over  the  forma- 
tion of  the  life  of  the  body  and  the  senses.  The 
creative  impetus,  which  emanates  from  the 
Divine,  is  communicated  to  the  Kundalini,  or 
serpentine  power  which  is  in  Yoganidra,  i.e. 
*' sleeping  the  sleep  of  trance."  Religious  con- 
version cannot  take  place  unless  the  Kundalini 
is  awakened.  We  perceive  all  supersensible 
truths  through  the  awakening  of  the  Kundalini. 
The  resurrection  of  the  soul  from  the  grave  of 
untruth  becomes  an  actual  fact  as  soon  as  the 
Kundalini  is  awakened.  The  perception  of 
beauty,  which  is  an  attribute  of  the  Self,  fills 
the  heart  with  joy  as  soon  as  the  Kundalini  is 
awakened.  Health  is  also  a  gift  of  Kundalini; 
Kundalini  is  the  mother  of  joy,  of  sweet  rest,  of 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    147 

sleep,  of  health,  of  faith,  and  of  wisdom.  Medi- 
tate on  the  Kundalini,  and  all  the  sweetness  of 
Heaven  and  the  power  of  space  will  be  yours ; 
Kundalini  is  the  queen,  the  guide  and  the  voice 
of  life. 

The  question  will  be  asked  as  to  how  this 
serpentine  power  is  to  be  awakened.  The  re- 
generation of  mankind  will  come  through  the 
right  understanding  and  right  manipulation  of 
this  hidden  power,  and  the  reformation  of  the 
criminal  as  well  as  the  education  of  children 
must  proceed  according  to  the  method  which 
teaches  the  transformation  of  the  animal  into 
the  human,  and  the  transfiguration  of  the  human 
into  the  Divine. 

In  order  to  awaken  the  Kundalini,  we  must, 
in  the  first  place,  realise  that  the  human  soul  is 
essentially  Divine  and  identical  with  God.  Each 
individual  by  himself  or  herself  is  illusory,  but 
in  Itself  is  the  whole,  indivisible,  infinite,  all- 
knowing,  all-pervading,  eternal,  changeless,  and 
all-powerful  Brahman ;  as  such,  without  limita- 
tions, without  organs,  neither  sinning  nor  suiffer- 
ing,  neither  an  agent  of  action  nor  an  enjoyer 
of  the  fruits  of  action,  but  pure  existence,  pure 
essence,  pure  being,  pure  consciousness.  The  soul 
is  an  onlooker  (Sakshi)  —  present  as  an  eternal 
element  in  all  feelings,  in  all  perceptions,  and  in 
all  conceptions.  The  disciple  should  remember 
that  this  Sakshi,  by  its  conjunction  or  associa- 
tion with  or  transcendental  influence  upon  the 
phantom-mass  or  the  shadow-substance  of  Maya, 


148  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

evolves  a  new  power  called  Isvara,  the  creative 
spirit.  Isvara,  by  manipulating  the  substance  of 
Maya,  creates  the  cosmos.  All  thoughts,  all  cells, 
all  powers  are  creative ;  human  will  is  reproduc- 
tive; the  cells  of  our  brains  are  reproductive. 
The  Sakshi  expresses  itself  through  Isvara  and 
Isvara  through  Maya.  The  Jiva  (individual)  is 
an  epitome  of  the  Sakshi,  Isvara,  and  Maya. 

A  word  of  explanation  on  Maya  is  necessary 
here  :  Maya  stands  for  the  jubstance  or  matter 
of  the  universe,  i.e.  Prana,  Akasa,  life  and  ether. 
It  also  stands  for  the  power  to  realise  the  unreal, 
to  make  the  non-existent  existent,  to  make  evil 
appear  good,  the  untrue  as  true.  This  mysteri- 
ous, incomprehensible,  unbelievable  element, 
composed  of  the  stuff  our  dreams,  fears,  and 
illusions  are  made  of,  is  the  Maya  out  of  which 
Isvara  fabricates  these  stellar  and  solar  universes. 
Maya  is  the  matter  of  Bramanda  —  the  universe 
consisting  of  fourteen  spheres  —  and  Avidya  is 
the  substance  of  the  Jiva,  the  individual.  Isvara 
is  the  Lord  of  Maya,  and  Jiva  is  the  creature  of 
Maya.  But  as  Isvara  has  unlimited  power  over 
Maya,  the  power,  that  is,  of  creation  and  destruc- 
tion, so  the  Jiva  has  also  some  limited  power  of 
direction  over  Maya.  Jiva's  intelligence  is  a 
reflection  of  Brahman,  and  as  such  His  power. 
His  wisdom  and  holiness  are  all  present  in  a 
diminutive  form  in  Jiva.  Isvara  is  untouched 
by  the  evil  of  the  world,  whereas  Jiva  is  over- 
whelmed by  evil,  although  through  knowledge 
of  Vedanta  he  is  able  to  neutralise  the  evil  that 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    149 

torments  him ;  that  is  to  say  that  the  Jiva  can 
become  Brahman  by  liberating  his  soul  from 
error.  The  disciple  must  claim  the  creative  and 
destructive  power  of  Isvara  in  thought  and  come 
to  a  consciousness  of  his  own  directive  power 
with  a  view  (1)  to  create  wisdom,  goodness, 
power,  and  health ;  (2)  to  destroy  unwisdom,  sin, 
error,  and  weakness,  and  then  (3)  to  direct  his 
newly  acquired  power  and  wisdom  to  effect  his 
perfection  and  liberation. 

The  perfect  man  sees  the  Sakshi,  Isvara,  Maya, 
and  Jiva  as  the  moments  of  one  Reality;  but 
to  those  who  are  still  struggling  all  these  are  like 
so  many  heterogeneous  realities,  unresolvable 
into  the  One.  These  ideas  which  suggest  that 
the  Jivas  are  all  different,  that  the  world  is  dif- 
ferent from  Isvara,  that  Isvara  is  different  from 
the  Sakshi,  and  that  Sakshi  is  different  from 
the  Jiva,  are  all  fabrications  of  Avidya.  That 
is  to  say  that  from  the  standpoint  of  Jnana 
(perfect  knowledge),  nothing  save  Brahman  is 
true,  while  from  the  standpoint  of  A  jnana 
(ignorance),  nothing  save  the  manifold  of  sense 
is  true.  The  former  (knowledge)  has  its  neural 
counterpart  in  the  highest  Chakram  in  the  brain, 
while  the  latter  (ignorance)  has  its  neural  coun- 
terpart in  the  lowest  Chakram  situated  within 
the  solar  plexus.  The  disciple  must  meditate  on 
the  solar  plexus  to  see  the  content  of  Ajnana 
when  all  the  bad  Samskars,  which  oppose  our 
progress  through  a  power  which  has  been  accumu- 
lated in  countless  past  lives,  have  to  be  rubbed 


150  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

off,  effaced,  and  obliterated ;  this  process  of 
obliteration  can  be  carried  on  by  concentrating 
the  attention  on  this  lowest  Chakram,  and  the 
result  of  such  concentration  will  be  that  some 
of  the  powers  come  under  the  control  of  the 
will  and  are  thus  harnessed  for  the  development 
of  the  spiritual  faculties.  In  this  way  the  Yogis 
say  that  all  the  principal  and  subordinate  Chak- 
rams  are  to  be  "pierced"  and  thus  perfection 
is  to  be  attained.  But  the  art  of  raising  the 
Kundalini  should  only  be  learned  from  a  quali- 
fied Guru. 

The  possibility  of  self-control  and  self -reforma- 
tion lies  in  the  fact  of  the  freedom  of  the  will. 
The  cosmic  will,  out  of  which  the  universe  has 
emanated,  is  identical  with  the  human  will. 
Isvara's  will  moulds,  shapes,  and  directs  the 
matter  of  the  universe,  and  so  the  human  will 
can  control  the  fancies,  desires,  and  thoughts  of 
the  heart.  Hence  it  follows  that  man  is  respon- 
sible for  his  thoughts  and  actions ;  evil  thoughts 
and  deeds  are — through  the  unity  of  the  human 
and  Divine  will  —  punished  by  the  degradation 
of  the  brain-form,  while  good  thoughts  and 
deeds  are  —  through  the  operation  of  the  unity 
of  wills  —  rewarded  by  an  elevation  of  the  brain- 
form. 

The  truth  of  this  statement  is  demonstrated 
in  our  e very-day  experience  of  the  objectification 
and  materialisation  of  the  will .  Criminal  thoughts 
and  tendencies  change  the  facial  expression,  the 
tone  of  the  voice,  and  the  rhythm  of  muscular 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    151 

movement,  and  they  afterwards  react  upon  the 
psychical  faculties  with  the  result  that  human 
ajBFections  become  transformed  into  brutal  in- 
stincts. Such  persons  seek  out  lower  forms  of 
organisms  for  their  next  incarnations.  On  the 
other  hand,  good  thoughts  and  good  conduct 
change  the  facial  expression,  the  tone,  looks,  and 
manners.  The  power  of  mental  habit  over  the 
body  can  be  observed  in  the  case  of  tragic  or 
comic  actors  who  have  been  a  long  time  on  the 
stage.  The  principle  by  which  such  changes 
are  brought  about  has  a  metaphysical  value.^ 

The  Samkhya  philosophers  taught  that  mind 
cannot  be  conceived  of  as  separate  from  matter, 
although  there  is  a  distinction  between  the  two, 
both  mind  and  matter  having  evolved  from  a 
substance  which  is  neither  mind  nor  matter. 
How  can  we  explain  the  growth  of  an  elephant 
from  a  single  egg-cell.'^  How  does  conscious- 
ness come?  To  this  Kapila  would  reply  that 
the  mind  of  the  elephant  has  evolved  spontane- 
ously out  of  the  sattva  of  nature,  for  sattva  is 
consciousness  subsisting  in  a  latent  form  in 
nature,  and  that  this  subconsciousness  has 
evolved  pari  passu  with  the  development  of 
the  organism,  but  (this  is  the  peculiarity  of 
Kapila's  philosophy)  presided  over  by  the  soul 
(Purusha).  Without  the  presence  of  Purusha 
the  egg-cell  would  decompose  (Sutra,  Ix.  ch.  vi.). 

But  this  theory  of  Kapila's  leaves  many 
points  unexplained  :  for  if,  as  it  is  said,  Purusha, 

^  See  Appendix. 


152  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

or  soul,  is  inactive  and  free  while  Prakriti  is 
also  inactive,  how  can  the  combination  of  two 
inactive  substances  bring  about  the  activity  of 
sentiency  ?  Kapila  would  answer  that  sentiency 
is  developed  through  the  contact  of  soul  with 
matter.  But  why  should  soul  come  into  contact 
with  matter  at  all  ?  The  answer  is  Aviveka,  the 
want  of  self-knowledge  on  the  part  of  Purusha 
which  deludes  it  (the  soul)  to  look  on  the  Mahat, 
Ahamkar,  and  Indriyas  as  its  own.  Here  it  may 
be  questioned  why,  if,  as  Kapila  says,  Purusha  is 
eternally  self-conscious,  should  it  be  conscious 
of  itself  when  touched  by  Prakriti  .^^  To  this 
the  answer  is  that  Purusha  is  really  indifferent 
and  unconcerned,  it  simply  looks  on  Prakriti  as 
a  man  looks  on  a  pretty  dancing  girl  and  feels 
enchanted,  allowing  himself  to  be  overcome  by 
love.  Prakriti  is  the  whole  theatre  of  nature,  in- 
cluding the  processes  of  perception  and  emotion, 
pain  and  pleasure,  volition  and  cognition.  The 
growth  of  individuality,  i.e.  of  the  sentiment  of 
love  for  life  and  of  desire  for  achievement  and 
success,  takes  place  while  the  soul  is  witnessing, 
like  the  man  watching  the  rhythmical  move- 
ments of  the  dancer. 

No  sooner  does  the  Purusha  close  its  eyes  than 
Prakriti  ceases  to  work  for  it,  though  there  are 
hundreds  of  other  souls  who  will  come  under  its 
influence.  Liberation  is  the  turning  away  of 
the  eye  of  the  soul  from  the  cosmic  picture,  but 
Prakriti  will  never  be  destroyed,  because  there 
will  always  be  plenty  of  souls  who  are  ready  to 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    153 

be  ^ichanted.  In  Kapila's  philosophy,  Kaivalya, 
or  liberation  (literally  "aloofness"),  is  the  gift 
of  Prakriti.  Kaivalya  is  freedom  from  pain 
and  sorrow. 

Vedanta  has  treated  the  same  subject  from 
a  very  different  point  of  view.  Unlike  the  Sam- 
khya,  Vedanta  recognises  one  only  Reality,  the 
nature  of  which  is  truth  and  joy.  Brahman  is 
the  truth  of  truth,  the  joy  of  joy.  By  the  side 
of  Brahman  there  is  no  other  existence,  no 
other  bliss,  and  no  other  reality.  Whenever 
we  say  "yea,"  our  voices  echo  the  voice  of  that 
Eternal  Yea ;  about  Brahman  we  can  only  say 
"OM"  (Yea). 

Brahman's  truth  is  revealed  in  higher  know- 
ledge and  reflected  in  lower  knowledge;  in 
higher  knowledge  Brahman  is  the  very  freedom 
of  eternity.  Brahman  is  complete  and  perfect 
and  blissful.  Brahman  cannot  be  understood, 
because  He  is  the  understanding  itself.  He 
cannot  be  enjoyed,  because  He  is  the  essence  of 
joy,  attributeless  and  impersonal,  independent 
and  self-sufficient.  Brahman  is  not  to  be 
thought  of  as  the  cause  of  creation,  for  He  is 
without  motive  and  there  is  nothing  outside  of 
Him  to  create.  He  is  all-embracing,  all-con- 
scious, and  all-complete.  He  is  only  to  be 
indicated  by  the  word  OM  (Yea).  This  Brah- 
man is  to  be  known  in  higher  knowledge. 

What  then  is  this  world,  and  what  is  man? 
The  question  itself  brings  us  into  the  sphere 
of  lower  knowledge.    In  higher  knowledge  there 


154  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

is  neither  question  nor  answer,  for  there  is  no 
one  to  question  and  none  to  answer;  there  is 
nothing  but  the  silence  of  Aparoksha  (wisdom). 
The  lower  knowledge  indicates  a  state  of 
separateness  from  the  Truth  of  Brahman,  it 
is  the  beginning  of  duality,  which  is  Avidya. 

The  super-consciousness  of  Samadhi  is  sharply 
distinguished  from  ordinary  consciousness  which 
gives  an  individuality  to  every  sensation,  every 
feeling,  and  every  fancy.  The  Self  side  of  things, 
which  is  identical  with  Brahman,  is  lost  sight 
of  in  the  heterogeneity  and  multiplicity  of  pre- 
sentative  and  representative  objects.  All  objects 
are  illusive  and  unintelligible ;  for  example,  here 
is  a  flower :  try  to  understand  its  nature.  We 
always  understand  a  thing  when  we  view  it  in 
the  light  of  its  cause.  The  flower  produces 
certain  sensations  of  colour,  smell,  etc.,  in  the 
mind,  but  these  sensations  only  help  us  to 
connect  the  name  of  the  flower,  e.g.  rose,  with 
its  peculiar  colour  and  smell,  they  do  not  help  us 
to  understand  what  the  flower  is  in  itself.  What 
is  the  cause  of  the  flower?  The  flower  is  on 
the  tree,  the  tree  is  the  parent  of  the  flower; 
the  leaves  of  the  tree  have,  by  a  natural  process, 
been  modified  into  the  form  of  a  rose.  Do  we 
know  the  cause  of  the  tree?  We  observe  that 
the  growth  of  its  life  is  dependent  upon  the 
atmosphere  and  terrestrial  conditions,  such  as 
moisture,  heat,  nitrogen,  carbon,  etc.,  and  here 
we  may  say  that  these  elements  of  nature  have 
by  a  natural  law  been  modified  into  the  form  of 


VI    MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    155 

the  tree,  i.e.  its  life,  its  colour,  its  leaves,  etc., 
but  have  we  yet  understood  the  flower  ?  What 
is  this  law  which  we  are  assuming  at  every  step  ? 
We  make  a  vague  guess  that  there  are  forces 
which  are  inherent  in  atoms  and  that  these 
forces  operate  according  to  a  system ;  but  what 
are  the'se  forces,  and  what  are  these  atoms  ? 
Some  say  they  are  electricity,  others  say  ether. 
Do  these  names  help  us  to  understand  the 
mystery  of  the  flower  and  the  still  greater 
mystery  of  our  enjoyment  of  the  beauty  of  the 
flower  ?  One  question  lurks  behind  another,  and 
mystery  envelops  mystery;  what  we  hear  is 
nothing  but  a  series  of  endless  names  and  names 
and  names.  What  we  see  is  a  series  of  shapes 
and  forms  and  movements.  One  name  is  ex- 
plained by  another  name,  and  one  shape  is 
explained  by  another  shape.  These  names  of 
outer  objects  give  rise  to  various  feelings,  such 
as  satisfaction,  or  pleasure,  or  pain,  etc.,  which 
are  also  names  of  inner  objects  or  mental 
shapes.  These  inner  feelings  give  rise  to  move- 
ments, such  as  when  we  stretch  a  hand  to  pluck 
the  rose,  or  when  we  turn  our  faces  away  at  the 
sight  of  some  hideous  object. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  universe  is  a  mysterious 
conglomeration  of  name,  form,  and  movement, 
as  Sri  Sankara  says  :  *'  Kdrya-kdrana-ndma-rupa- 
j)rapancha."  Philosophers  say  that  this  mys- 
terious world  is  begotten  of  another  mysterious 
pair  called  time  and  space.  This  mystery  is 
what  the  Vedantin  calls  Maya.     The  Lord  is 


156  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

the  Master  of  this  show,  and  we  are  like  dancing 
girls  in  disguise.  Man  is  only  a  name,  woman 
is  only  a  name,  yet  these  two  names  charm  one 
another.  Civilisation  is  nothing  but  a  dream 
of  agreeable  shadows,  as  the  mystic  poet  of 
the  East  says : 

We  are  no  other  than  a  moving  row 
Of  visionary  Shapes  that  come  and  go 

Round  with  this  Sun-illumined  lantern  held 
In  midnight  by  the  Master  of  the  show.^ 

The  greatest  of  all  Maya  is  the  thought  that 
some  forms  of  Maya  are  worth  more  than  others. 
Thus  life  appears  of  more  worth  than  death. 

Man  is  playing  about  in  the  midnight  of 
Avidya.  There  is  no  knowledge  possible  of 
Maya,  the  nature  of  which  is  non-knowledge; 
therefore  the  wise  say.  Leave  Maya  alone. 

But  where  is  the  Maya — the  untruth  that 
captivates,  the  shadow  that  rules?  Is  it  in 
human  society,  in  nature,  or  in  Heaven  ?  Long 
ago  I  was  wandering  in  the  beautiful  forest  of 
Brindaban,  and  one  morning  as  I  sat  under  a 
tree  I  was  quite  charmed  with  the  freshness  of 
the  spring  landscape ;  it  was  a  perfect  paradise 
for  song-birds,  peacocks,  and  deer;  the  river 
Jumna  with  her  crystal  waters  was  flowing  by. 
I  sat  thinking  and  wondering  whether  all  the 
birds  and  flowers  and  the  music  of  the  waters 
was  nothing  but  Maya,  when  suddenly  my 
reverie  was  broken  by  a  voice  saying:  "There 
is  Maya  within  the  family  circle,  Maya  on  the 

^  Omar  Khayyam,  Izxiii. 


VI  MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    157 

broad  streets  of  the  world,  Maya  in  the  clouds, 
and  Maya  even  in  the  Lord's  Heaven ;  there  is 
no  time  in  which  there  is  no  Maya,  and  no  place 
where  there  is  not  Maya.     Mind  is  Maya." 

I  opened  my  eyes  and  met  the  smiling  gaze  of 
a  Sannyasin  who  was  standing  before  me.  He 
had  read  my  thoughts  and  came  to  solve  my 
doubts.  He  continued:  "You  are  young,  and 
yet  you  have  left  home  and  parents  to  don  the 
orange  robe  of  the  monk  in  search  of  truth  and 
peace.  My  child,  the  mind  is  the  citadel  of 
Maya  and  the  world  its  outworks.  Conquer 
the  citadel,  and  the  outworks  will  fall  of  them- 
selves." After  saying  this  he  went  his  way,  leaving 
me  to  muse  in  the  silence  of  my  own  meditation. 

Brahman  is  truth,  Maya  is  untruth ;  Brahman 
is  Being,  Maya  is  becoming ;  Brahman  is  Eternity, 
Maya  is  time;  Brahman  is  existence,  Maya  is 
the  cosmos ;  Brahman  is  consciousness,  Maya  is 
mind;  Brahman  is  Reality,  Maya  is  power; 
Brahman  is  everything,  and  Maya  is  nothing; 
Brahman  is  intuition,  Maya  is  intelligence; 
Brahman  is  Wisdom,  Maya  is  knowledge ;  Brah- 
man is  joy,  and  Maya  is  pleasure.  Brahman  is 
the  spectator,  Maya  is  the  phantasy  of  dream ; 
Brahman  is  the  Samvid  of  sound  sleep,  Maya  is 
the  general  torpor  of  sleep;  Brahman  is  the 
Prana  (super-consciousness)  of  Turiya,  and 
Maya  is  non-existence.  All  Maya  implies  all 
Brahman,  but  All  Brahman  implies  no  Maya. 

Sri  Ramakrishna  used  to  say  that  in  the 
super-consciousness  of  higher  Samadhi  the  truth 


/ 


158  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

of  the  saying  "All  is  Brahman"  becomes  plain; 
while  in  the  sub-consciousness  of  lower  Samadhi 
the  truth  of  the  "personal  God"  can  be  felt, 
and  in  the  ordinary  waking  consciousness 
Kapila's  teaching  about  Prakriti  appears  to  be 
a  fact. 

Ramakrishna  also  said  that  the  manifold  of 
name  and  form  has  evolved  out  of  Brahma- 
consciousness.  As  it  is  impossible  to  draw  a 
line  between  ocean  and  the  waves,  so  it  is  im- 
possible to  differentiate  Brahman  from  Creation. 
To  us  as  personal  beings  endowed  with  limited 
consciousness  God  cannot  but  reveal  Himself 
as  a  Personal  Being,  for  our  intellect,  being  of 
the  nature  of  attributes,  can  only  conceive  of 
a  Divine  Personality  endowed  with  great  attri- 
butes. But  men  can,  through  Yoga,  transcend 
his  individual  attributes  and  personal  limitations. 
In  the  silence  of  Samadhi,  when  the  mind  does 
not  argue  about  existence  in  the  abstract  as 
different  from  existence  in  the  concrete,  he 
realises  the  Impersonal.  In  thinking  of  Monism 
(Advaita),  we  cannot  but  assume  Dualism 
(Dvaitam),  for  the  numerical  integer  is  associ- 
ated in  our  mind  with  other  figures.  It  is  idle 
to  speak  of  the  "One  Absolute"  when  you  have 
not  got  rid  of  such  pairs  of  ideas  as  "personal" 
as  opposed  to  "the  Impersonal,"  "changeable" 
as  opposed  to  "the  Unchangeable,"  "One"  as 
opposed  to  "many,"  and  "the  Absolute"  as 
opposed  to  the  "relative." 
\  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Brahman,  as  seen 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    159 

through  the  glass  of  the  intellect,  appears  as  the 
universe,  and,  when  this  process  is  reversed, 
that  is,  when  in  Samadhi  Brahman  sees  Him- 
self, there  is  no  longer  any  universe. 

The  relation  of  Maya  to  Brahman  is  diflBcult 
to  explain,  because,  first  of  all.  Brahman  is 
Absolute  Existence,  while  Maya  is  absolute  non- 
existence, therefore  the  question  arises  as  to 
how  Absolute  Reality  can  be  related  to  absolute 
unreality.  Secondly,  Brahman  is  eternal  but 
Maya  is  perpetual,  i.e.  active  while  time  lasts. 
How  then  can  Brahman,  who  is  eternally  in- 
active, induce  Maya  to  create  the  world?  In 
answer  to  the  first  question,  it  may  be  said  that 
Brahman  is  real;  all  reality  can  belong  to 
Brahman  only.  If  pure  consciousness  is  identi- 
cal with  pure  existence,  then  the  latter  cannot 
be  ascribed  to  any  other  than  Brahman,  for  all 
that' we  mean  by  reality  has  its  source  in  Brahman 
and  cannot  be  separated  from  Brahman.  If  we 
ascribe  existence  to  any  other  by  the  side  of 
Brahman,  by  doing  so  we  limit  and  circumscribe 
Brahman ;  and  in  that  case  completeness  and 
perfection  cannot  be  ascribed  to  Brahman.  As 
Brahman  is  consciousness,  and  as  we  cannot, 
in  any  way,  qualify  the  conscious  existence  of 
Brahman  with  the  notion  of  cause  and  eflfect, 
of  persistence  and  change,  of  time  and  space, 
of  position  and  movement — without  destroying 
the  self -same  identity  and  independence  of  Brah- 
man, there  is  no  other  language  wherewith  to 
describe  Brahman  than  by  saying,  "Brahman 


160  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

is."  Even  the  word  "existence"  must  not  be 
taken  to  be  an  attribute  or  quality  or  mode  of 
Brahman,  for  this  word  "existence"  has  to  be 
used  simply  for  the  sake  of  the  pupils  who  have 
not  yet  realised  Brahman.  From  the  stand- 
point of  the  highest  Samadhi,  Brahman  is  un- 
conditioned and  attributeless,  neither  personal 
nor  impersonal,  nor  even  unpersonal,  still  less 
infra-personal ;  yet  Brahman  is  not  an  abstrac- 
tion, but  an  actuality  in  whom  perfection  has 
been  still  more  perfected  in  the  most  blissful 
way,  the  completeness  of  which  is  the  very  truth 
of  freedom. 

In  order  to  bring  home  this  teaching  about 
Nirguna Brahman  (the unconditioned  Brahman), 
Whom  none  can  understand  who  has  not  entered 
into  the  highest  Samadhi,  we  may  use  a  simile, 
but  it  is  a  simile  which  must  not  be  stretched 
very  far.  If  we  say  that  all  light  —  solar  light, 
lunar  light,  polar  light,  zodiac  light,  electric  light 
gas  light,  candle  light,  phosphorescence,  nerve 
light,  radium  light,  petrol  light,  etc.,  originate 
in  ether,  what  is  it  that  we  really  mean  ?  Perhaps 
we  mean  that  ether  is  the  cause  of  all  these 
lights,  or  we  may  mean  that  ether  transforms 
itself  into  various  lights ;  or  we  may  mean  that 
light  is  the  same  thing  as  ether,  that  light  and 
ether  are  two  words  which  both  denote  the  fact 
of  luminousness,  that  being  not  only  inseparable 
from  ether  but  completely  identical  with  it. 

In  the  same  way,  following  the  analogy  of  the 
last  meaning,  we  may  say  that  consciousness  is 


VI  MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    161 

Brahman,  i.e.  all  consciousness  —  consciousness 
in  the  personal  God,  in  the  Devas,  in  man,  in 
animals,  in  plants,  in  minerals,  in  electrons  — 
all  these  imply  the  Brahman-existence.  We  may 
say  that  consciousness  and  Brahman-existence 
are  two  words,  but  they  mean  One  Reality ;  we 
may  say  that  consciousness  is  not  only  insepa- 
rable from  existence  but  that  it  is  identical  with 
existence,  and  that  there  can  be  nothing  else 
except  Brahman,  One,  universal,  immanent, 
transcendent,  real,  blissful,  perfect,  and  true. 

The  second  question  may  now  be  considered, 
viz.,  How  can  Brahman  be  thought  of  in  associa- 
tion with  the  illusory  Maya.^^  We  must  start 
our  discussion  with  the  premise  that  no  such 
association  or  conjunction  of  Brahman  with 
Maya  can  take  place  from  Brahman's  point  of 
view,  and  that  it  is  therefore  only  relatively 
valid,  i.e.  it  belongs  not  to  true  knowledge  but 
to  Avidya.  The  world,  so  the  teaching  goes,  is 
neither  real  nor  unreal,  neither  ideal  nor  material, 
has  neither  beginning  nor  end,  is  neither  moral 
nor  non-moral.  It  is  incomprehensible  and  un- 
definable;  it  is  as  mysterious  as  the  forms  and 
shapes  conjured  up  by  the  art  of  the  magician. 
In  Samadhi  the  Yogi  does  not  perceive  its  exist- 
ence, just  as  we  are  not  conscious  of  its  existence 
in  deep  slumber.  In  God-vision  the  world  of 
change  does  not  appear  in  the  field  of  conscious- 
ness as  in  dream,  when  we  only  see  images,  but 
not  the  objective  world,  which  only  exists  for 
us  during  our  waking  hours.     When  we  say  that 


162  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

the  world  is  real,  we  mean  no  more  than  that 
the  contents  of  waking  perception  are  real ;  thus 
it  is,  at  best,  only  a  part  of  consciousness  which 
gives  rise  to  the  sense  of  reality,  and  even  that 
part  is  not  free  from  error.  Can  we  say  that 
all  the  contents  of  waking  consciousness  are 
real  ?  No.  Our  knowledge  of  the  outer  world 
proceeds  from  the  senses,  and  how  easily  the 
mind  can  be  deceived  by  the  senses  !  The  senses 
have  their  limitations ;  this  becomes  evident 
when  we  consider  how  readily  the  mind  is  in- 
fluenced by  suggestion  causing  mere  ideas  to 
assume  the  forms  of  reality.  Goethe  describes 
in  his  Erlkonig  how  a  child  dies  of  fright  in  his 
father's  arms  while  the  latter  is  carrying  him 
on  horseback  through  a  stormy  night ;  the  boy 
imagines  that  the  "Erlkonig"  is  trying  to  snatch 
him  away,  and  he  thus  becomes  a  prey  to  the 
phantom  of  his  own  imagination. 

I  could  cite  many  examples  which  prove  how 
powerful  is  the  influence  which  the  mind  exerts 
over  the  body.  There  was  once  a  man  who, 
though  by  no  means  a  coward,  was  terrified  of 
snakes.  One  evening  a  friend  of  his  played  a 
practical  joke  which  cost  him  his  life.  While 
they  were  sitting  with  a  party  of  four  others  by 
the  side  of  the  river  Ganges,  this  friend,  who  had 
concealed  in  his  coat  pocket  a  rubber  snake 
which  had  the  appearance  of  a  cobra,  suddenly 
threw  it  on  to  the  man's  leg.  He  gave  a  loud 
shriek  and  exclaimed,  "A  cobra  has  bitten 
me!"  and  so  saying,  he  fell  senseless  to  the 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    163 

ground,  and  before  anything  could  be  done  to 
revive  him,  life  was  found  to  be  extinct. 

Hypnotists  are  able  to  cause  an  inflammation 
on  any  part  of  the  skin  by  simply  touching  the 
spot  with  a  finger ;  thus,  by  means  of  suggestion, 
burns  and  blisters  can  be  produced.  Todermal 
(an  Indian  statesman)  is  said  to  have  died  within 
a  week  after  seeing  the  figure  of  a  black  devil  in 
a  dream.  The  celebrated  rope  trick,  performed 
by  Indian  conjurers,  is  another  instance  of  the 
power  of  suggestion.  A  man  throws  a  long  rope 
into  the  air,  and  to  the  eyes  of  the  spectators 
the  rope  appears  to  be  hanging  down  from  the 
sky.  Then  a  boy  goes  up  it,  like  a  sailor  climbing 
the  rigging,  only  the  boy  disappears  from  view, 
and  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  minutes  his  arms 
legs,  trunk,  etc.,  fall  to  the  ground.  The  con- 
jurer weeps  over  the  fate  of  the  poor  boy,  and 
the  spectators  become  greatly  agitated.  Pres- 
ently he  collects  the  limbs  one  by  one,  and  places 
them  inside  a  wooden  box ;  then  he  touches  the 
box  with  his  wand  and  opens  it,  whereupon  the 
same  boy,  with  all  his  limbs  whole,  comes  out 
smiling,  and  the  spectators  heave  a  sigh  of  relief. 
Many  other  wonderful  tricks  are  done  in  India, 
such  as  producing  living  animals  and  trees  out 
of  nothing. 

Greater  wonders  than  those  shown  by  pro- 
fessional tricksters  are  demonstrated  by  Yogis, 
such  as  the  creation  of  many  bodies  of  the  Yogi 
himself  appearing  simultaneously  before  many 
persons  or  living  for  months  and  years  under- 


164  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

ground  without  food ;  or  levitation,  or  the  crea- 
tion of  phantom  towns  peopled  with  phantom 
figures.  All  these  things  are  illusion,  but  they 
are  facts  of  illusion.  When  we  see  them,  they 
carry  with  them  the  conviction  of  reality  and 
we  cannot  disbelieve  them ;  it  is  only  afterwards 
that  we  realise  that  they  were  illusions.  It  is 
the  same  with  this  universe  with  its  suns  and 
stars,  its  mountains  and  rivers,  its  loves  and 
hates,  its  peace  and  its  wars.  They  are  all  real 
as  long  as  we  are  in  ignorance  and  in  the  grip 
of  Avidya,  but  we  realise  them  as  illusions  when 
our  souls  are  illuminated  by  knowledge.  Then 
we  no  longer  feel  interested  in  the  affairs  of  this 
Passing  Show.^ 

Thus  we  can  understand  the  answer  to  the 
second  question.  Brahman  reflected  in  the 
magic  mirror  of  Maya  appears  to  us  as  the 
Creator  of  the  Universe.  In  thought  we  link 
the  Absolute  with  the  relative,  the  One  with 
the  many,  and  thus  we  relate  the  world  with  an 
all-mighty  creative  intellect,  called  Isvara,  who 
is  the  first  self-alienation  of  Brahman.  Isvara 
is  not  the  creator  of  Maya  but  only  its  director 
and  master.  The  same  Brahman  reflected  in 
Avidya  is  Jiva,  or  the  individual.  Out  of  the 
illusory  Maya,  "the  Lord  of  this  all-show"  has 
made  the  world  of  time  and  space,  cause  and 
effect,  life  and  matter.  Jiva  is  also  making  his 
world  of  religion  and  philosophy,  morality  and 
government,  art,  science  and  commerce  out  of 

^  See  Appendix. 


VI    MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    165 

Avidya.  There  is  about  as  much  distinction 
between  Maya  and  Avidya  as  there  is  between 
a  ghost  and  a  fairy;  it  may  be  that  Maya  is 
objective  (projected  or  thrown  outwards),  while 
Avidya  is  subjective  (injected  or  thrown  in- 
wards), but  the  substance  of  matter  and  motion, 
of  mind  and  nerve,  has  evolved  out  of  such  stuff 
as  magic  show  is  made  of.  » 

Maya  has  been  variously  named  by  diflferent 
philosophers  as  Sakti  (power)  and  Prakriti 
(nature).  Whenever  we  study  the  doctrine  of 
Maya,  we  must  always  remember  the  words  of 
Sri  Sankara  Acharya:  "Belonging  to  the  Self, 
as  it  were,  of  the  Omniscient  Lord,  there  are 
Nama-rupa,  the  Maya  of  name  and  form,  of 
substance  and  attributes,  of  cause  and  effect, 
of  universe  and  the  man." 

The  doctrine  of  Maya  must  be  read  along 
with  the  doctrine  of  Avidya,  the  former  being 
the  complement  to  the  latter.  According  to 
the  doctrine  of  Maya  the  reality  of  the  Jiva 
(individual),  Jagat  (universe),  and  Samsara  are 
denied,  as  according  to  the  doctrine  of  Avidya 
the  reality  of  perception  and  conception  is 
denied;  for  nothing  else  is  truly  real  except 
the  one  Brahman.  It  is  the  mind  which  super- 
imposes the  outer  world  upon  Brahma,  who  only 
is  real.  This  innate  tendency  of  the  mind,  to 
place  the  illusion  of  the  inner  and  outer  world 
and  the  transmigration  of  the  Jiva  in  relation 
to  the  personality  of  a  creative  Spirit,  is  called 
Maya.    What  remains  (after  name  and  form. 


166  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

which  are  productions  of  Maya  and  Avidya, 
are  deducted  or  annihilated)  is  pure  conscious- 
ness. This  is  Brahma,  unto  which  all  creatxu'es 
are  progressing  to  be  absorbed  and  compre- 
hended in  the  embrace  of  Jnana.  Thus  a  dis- 
tinction is  to  be  drawn  between  the  universe  of 
Jnana  (reality)  and  the  universe  of  Ajnana 
(non-reality)  —  the  former  being  Brahma  and 
the  latter  Maya.  All  our  anthropomorphic 
conceptions  are  Avidya-born. 

It  is  the  Self  behind  phenomena  that  seeks 
to  express  Itself  to  our  self,  the  former  One  with 
the  latter. 

By  a  law  of  thought  the  self  is  the  ground 
of  all  our  assumptions.  We  cannot  understand 
each  other's  language  unless  we  tacitly  attribute 
a  self  to  the  speaker.  This  process  of  self- 
endowment  is  not  limited  to  human  beings. 

Whether  it  is  clearly  present  to  our  thought 
or  not,  we  attribute  some  kind  of  self,  not  only 
to  the  lower  animals,  but  to  each  unit  of  the 
inanimate  creation.  When  we  speak  of  earth 
or  water  or  matter,  we  do  assume  some  kind  of 
substance  containing  the  germ  of  self  in  it.  The 
only  illusion  from  which  human  thought  vainly 
strives  to  escape  is  the  disconcerting  assumption 
of  many  isolated  selves.  Metaphysical  logic  fails 
to  see  any  truth  in  this  assumption  of  a  plurality 
of  selves,  each  complete  in  itself  without  being 
touched  by  its  neighbours.  For  how  can  one 
self  be  separated,  either  subjectively  or  object- 
ively, from  another  self  which  is  assumed  to 


VI    MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    167 

be  of  homogeneous  nature  ?  Can  I  separate  in 
thought  my  self  from  yours?  It  is  our  char- 
acters that  differ,  not  the  soul.  As  one  sun 
produces  the  seven  colours  of  the  rainbow, 
so  one  self  produces  the  many  so-called 
selves. 

It  is  Brahman  who  is  in  the  Turiya,  in  the 
Susupti,  in  the  dreaming  and  in  the  waking  state. 
It  is  Brahman  who  is  Isvara,  the  Creator.  It 
is  Brahman  who  is  the  Hiranyagarbha,  i.e.  the 
unmanifested  universe  in  its  causal  form,  exist- 
ing as  a  design  in  the  mind  of  Isvara.  It  is 
Brahman  who  is  Virat,  i.e.  the  manifested 
universe  of  the  solar  and  stellar  systems,  the 
world  of  life,  movement,  and  Karma.  Thus 
the  Rishi  says :  "Perfect  and  whole  is  that 
Brahman,  and  perfect  and  whole  also  is  this 
Brahman." 

To  regard  the  person  as  separate  from  the 
Impersonal  is  an  instance  of  what  is  called  the 
"heresy  of  separateness."  When  the  mind  of 
man  is  freed  from  Avidya,  he  sees  nothing  but 
the  presence  of  Brahman. 

Walt  Whitman  speaks  of  the  one-ness  of  soul 
and  matter.  It  appears  so  contrary  to  all  our 
experience  —  how  can  the  Invisible  Self  be  re- 
garded as  the  reverse  side  of  visible  nature? 
Yet  those  who  know  how  to  see  have  seen  and 
realised  this  one-ness  with  God  (Paravidya). 
Tennyson  describes  his  experience  of  this  higher 
knowledge,  when  he  felt  that  his  soul  melted 
away  into  heaven  like  a  cloud  in  the  sky.     To 


168  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

him  this  did  not  appear  as  loss  of  self,  but  "gain 
of  such  large  life  as  matched  with  ours  were  sun 
to  spark." 

Sri  Krishna  calls  them  children  who  see 
nothing  but  contradiction  between  the  unitary 
revelations  of  Yoga  and  the  positivistic  teach- 
ings of  science  on  the  manifoldness  of  nature. 
He  sees  rightly  who  sees  that  the  truth  of  the 
one  is  not  different  from  the  truth  of  the 
other. 

This  is  Mukti,  this  is  liberation  from  Maya, 
from  Avidya  and  from  Upadhi.  True  religion 
teaches  man  the  art  of  self-expression.  In  self- 
expression  lies  happiness;  man's  destiny  is  to 
become  God. 

When  the  poet  is  able  to  express  the  harmony 
of  the  self  in  the  rhythm  of  words,  he  is  happy ; 
when  the  lover  is  able  to  express  the  fire  of  the 
soul  in  the  light  of  the  eyes,  he  is  happy ;  when 
a  community  expresses  the  ideal  of  the  good 
in  art,  in  government,  and  in  manners,  it  has 
achieved  its  object;  mankind  will  realise  its 
mission  on  earth  when  all  see  Godhead  in  each, 
and  each  one  sees  Godhead  in  all. 

Self-preservation  is  the  law  of  life.  This  is 
not  to  be  confounded  with  the  preservation  of 
name  and  form,  or  of  individuality,  not  even  of 
nationality,  no,  nor  even  of  humanity.  Self- 
preservation  implies  the  preservation  of  right- 
eousness, of  the  longing  for  freedom,  of  the 
aspiration  for  holiness.  All  evil,  all  sin,  all 
pain  arises  from  the  desire  for  the  preservation 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    169 

of  the  ego  —  the  ego  of  passion,  of  power,  of 
lust,  the  ego  which  whispers,  "Each  for  him- 
self." That  is  a  kind  of  self-preservation 
which  is  nothing  more  than  self -extinction. 

The  sense  of  an  isolated  ego  within  the  body 
of  man,  or  in  the  body  of  a  nation,  which  is  a 
collection  of  individuals,  having  its  separate  life 
and  separate  interests,  is  an  error.  This  error 
is  the  parent  of  all  strife  between  individual 
and  individual,  between  nation  and  nation. 
Patriotism  —  the  fetish  of  some  minds  —  is  but 
another  form  of  individualism  which  has  its 
origin  in  selfishness.  This  monster  of  race- 
patriotism  battens  on  the  blood  of  other  races 
just  as  one  set  of  bacilli  feeds  on  another  set. 
Patriotism  is  the  cause  of  immense  good  to  the 
members  of  the  same  race,  but  is  also  the  cause 
of  countless  evils  to  the  members  of  other  races. 
All  the  horrors  of  war  that  we  read  of  in  history, 
and  of  which  we  read  in  the  papers  to-day,  have 
been  caused  by  race-consciousness.  Ambitious 
rulers,  diplomatists,  and  capitalists  call  out  for 
a  so-called  peace  which  is  no  peace  at  all,  a 
peace  born  of  idleness,  of  greed,  of  the  muck  of 
decaying  creeds,  customs  and  ideals,  of  unbeKef, 
dishonesty  and  shame,  and  of  false  sympathy 
of  race  for  race.  This  so-called  civilisation  is  a 
compact  between  the  strong,  unscrupulous  races 
for  trampling  under  foot  the  weaker  races. 
What  is  there  to  divide  one  race  from  another  ? 
We  are  all  men,  not  mere  geographical  dolls. 

Sister  Nivedita  records  that   while  Swami 


170  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

Vivekananda  was  on  his  way  to  the  shrine  of 
Amarnath  in  Kashmir  many  Sannyasins  used 
to  call  on  him,  and  when  he  drew  their  attention 
to  the  condition  of  the  world  around  them,  they 
said  that  even  foreigners  were  Tnen  —  why  make 
such  a  distinction  between  Svadesa  (one's  own 
country)  and  Videsa  (foreign  country)  ? 

These  Sannyasins  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges 
and  the  Indus  have  developed  cosmic  conscious- 
ness to  so  great  an  extent  that  they  no  longer 
live  the  petty  life  of  race  and  clan,  but  that  of 
the  universal. 

When  talking  of  the  repeated  invasions  of 
India  by  Asiatic  and  European  races,  the 
Swami  Vivekananda,  who  had  an  intense  love 
for  India,  said  that  all  his  patriotism  was  gone 
—  that  it  was  now  only  "Mother,  Mother!" 
He  told  how  "Mother"  once  appeared  to  him 
and  said,  "Even  if  unbelievers  enter  My  temples 
and  defile  My  images,  what  is  that  to  you? 
Do  you  protect  Me?  Or  do  I  protect  you?" 
So  there  was  no  more  patriotism  for  him. 

I  shall  be  sorry  if  you  misunderstand  me  as 
condemning  either  love  of  peace,  or  neighbourly 
love,  or  love  for  one's  country.  All  these  feel- 
ings are  praiseworthy  and  help  to  evolve  the 
spiritual  life  of  man ;  at  the  same  time  we  must 
not  forget  that  love  means  harmony,  not  con- 
flict, expansion  of  sympathy,  not  its  contraction 
within  geographical  limits.  The  very  fact  of 
loving  one  soul,  by  including  all  souls  and  God, 
implies  salvation.     Universal  love  inspired  by 


VI   MONISM:  THE  TRUTH  OF  LIFE    171 

the  vision  of  the  Universal  may  not  bring  us 
worldly  success  or  national  prosperity,  but  it  will 
give  us  something  more  precious  than  all  the  suc- 
cess and  all  the  treasures  of  the  world  combined. 
I  see  a  new  light  on  the  distant  horizon, 
across  the  surging  waters.  From  beyond  the 
blue,  the  song  of  the  gods  is  enchanting  my  soul. 
I  see  a  new  humanity,  God-vestured,  dazzling 
the  sight  like  a  fiery  cloud  of  gold.  There  I 
see,  above  the  cloud,  shining  with  the  glory  of 
a  thousand  suns,  a  sublime  figure  more  godlike 
than  man's  conception  of  God.  In  the  gloom 
of  the  last  watch  of  the  night  I  see  the  shattered 
remains  of  ruined  towers  and  temples,  and  the 
dead  bodies  of  men  and  women  and  animals; 
I  hear  the  last  groans  and  faint  cries  of  a  dying 
world.  All  that  is  changed.  Universal  silence, 
like  that  which  prevailed  before  the  creation  of 
our  sun,  when  Isvara  was  lost  in  the  meditation 
of  Brahman.  Behold!  out  of  the  thought  of 
Isvara  comes  forth  a  universe  of  Right  peopled 
by  beings  who  shall  be  called  Truth-born ! 
OM. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Kaushitaki  Upanishad,  with  Sankarananda's  Dipika. 
Nadbindu  Upanishad,  with  Narayan's  Vritti. 
Atmaproboda  Upanishad. 

Nrisimhatapani  Upanishad,  with  Sankara's  Bhasya. 
Shatchakra  Upanishad,  with  Narayan's  Dipika. 
Shatchakra  Nirupanam,  with  Visvanath's  Vivriti. 


172  BRAHMADARSANAM  vi 

P9.diikS,panchakam  of  Sankara. 

Siddhanta  Darasana,  with  Niranjan  BhSsya. 

Bhagavatgita. 

Devi  Bhagavata. 

Yogavasistha  Maharamaijan.  _ 

Sarirakbhasya  of  Sri  Sankara  Ach&rya. 


APPENDIX 

NOTES 

P.  2,  1.  29.    Invasion  of  India 

India  has  suffered  foreign  invasion  within  historical 
times  since  the  year  2034  B.C.,  when  Semiramis  of 
Nineveh  invaded  the  north-west  of  India.  Rameses 
II.  of  Egypt  invaded  her  981  b.c.  Darius  of  Persia 
invaded  her  600  b.c.  Alexander  of  Macedon  in- 
vaded her  327  B.C.  Kasim  of  Arabia  invaded  her 
711  A.D.  The  Sultan  of  Ghazni  invaded  her  986  a.d. 
Muhammed  invaded  the  Punjab  1021  a.d.  Babar 
the  Mongol  invaded  her  1526  a.d.  After  this  the 
Afghans  invaded  her  several  times.  Every  school- 
boy and  schoolgirl  is  familiar  with  the  story  of 
the  invasions  of  India  by  the  nations  of  Europe 
since  the  discovery  of  the  Cape  route  by  the 
Portuguese. 

P.  4,  1.  28 

The  Charwak  school  was  founded  by  Vrihaspati. 
The  Charvvaks  are  thorough-going  materialists,  and 
bear  great  resemblance  to  La  Mettre  and  others  of 
the  French  Illumination  period. 

Vrihaspati  must  have  lived  long  before  the 
173 


174  BRAHMADARSANAM 

Buddha,  and  he  probably  influenced  the  no-soul 
theory  of  the  Buddhists.  The  Charvvaks  taught 
that  mind  is  a  product  of  matter,  that  there  is  no 
soul,  no  God,  and  no  future  life.  "Live  merrily  as 
long  as  you  are  alive;  borrow  butter  if  you  have 
none "  —  such  was  the  hedonic  tone  of  their  teach- 
ings. This  school  has  long  ceased  to  exist  as  a 
systematic  philosophy  in  India;  it  has  changed  its 
habitation,  and  has  come  to  dwell  in  Europe. 
These  different  philosophic  systems  are  classified 
by  Sri  Madhava  Acharya  in  his  Sarvadarsana 
Samgraha  as  follows : 

1.  Charvvaka  Darsana. 

2.  Bauddhya 

3.  Aharat  " 

4.  Ram&nuja  " 

5.  Purnaprajna        " 

6.  Nakulish  Pasupat  Darsana. 

7.  Saiva 

8.  Pratabhijna 

9.  Rasesvara 

10.  Aulukya 

11.  Akshapada 

12.  Jaiminya 

13.  Paniniya 

14.  Samkhya 

15.  Patanjali 

16.  Sankara 

P.  9,  1.  22.    Buddha's  Nirvana 

There  is  some  misunderstanding  as  to  the  mean- 
ing   of    the   word    Nirvana    as    intended   by   the 


APPENDIX  175 

Buddha.  The  root  meaning  of  the  word  is  certainly 
different  from  its  philosophical  significance.  Follow- 
ing the  radical  meaning  —  "blowing  out"  —  some 
scholars  have  made  the  fatal  mistake  of  thinking 
that  its  metaphysical  significance  is  "annihilation 
of  the  soul."  From  what  follows  it  will  be  seen 
that  Nirvana  and  Mukti  are  almost  synonymous 
terms  and  refer  to  the  permanent  ideal  for  the 
attainment  of  which  the  human  being  is  perpetually 
striving. 

The  Buddhists  say  Nirvana  is  supreme  happiness. 
Hemchandra  says  Nirvana  is  perfect  rest,  while 
Amara  asserts  that  Nirvana  is  synonymous  with 
the  ne  plus  ultra  of  perfection,  deathlessness,  the 
highest  good,  liberation  from  limitation,  transcen- 
dental independence  of  spirit,  and  perpetual  peace 
that  is  the  reward  of  wisdom.  That  Nirvana  does 
not  mean  "nothing,"  or  "negation  of  existence,"  is 
evident  from  the  Buddha's  own  words.  We  shall 
quote  some  of  his  utterances. 

The  Buddha  said : 

The  mind  is  freed  from  the  clutch  of  the  enemy 
of  Nirvana  through  right  views,  right  resolution, 
right  speech,  right  conduct,  right  exercise,  right 
recollection,  and  right  absorption,  or  Samadhi. 
The  effect  of  right  absorption,  or  Samadhi,  is  a 
discriminative  understanding,  unitative  state  of 
the  soul,  indifference  to  illusory  things  of  the  world, 
and  the  purification  of  memory.  By  the  light  of 
Samadhi-born  sight  the  soul  discovers  real  truth, 
and  distinguishes  it  from  the  source  of  untruth. 
That  is  to  say,  man  realises  the  true  meaning  of 
peace,  emancipation,  and  Nirvana.  The  transcen- 
dental knowledge  derived  from  Samadhi  discloses 


^ 


176  BRAHMADARSANAM 


the  highest  truth  of  Ufe  and  dispels  all  doubt. 
These  are  the  realisations  during  the  first  stage  of 
Samadhi. 

In  the  second  stage  the  mind  rises  from  the 
manifold  of  the  cosmos  to  the  unity  of  being.  In 
this  stage  the  plurality  of  sense-perception  does  not 
exist  for  the  Yogi.  One  Supreme  Being,  identical 
with  its  meditation,  its  knowledge,  its  understand- 
ing, its  longing  and  its  love,  fills  the  entire  horizon 
of  the  soul. 

In  the  third  stage  of  Samadhi  the  soul  is  freed 
from  the  duality  of  knowledge  and  ignorance, 
existence  and  non-existence,  passion  and  dispassion, 
happiness  and  misery,  joy  and  joylessness,  fortune 
and  misfortune,  eternal  and  temporal.  The  soul 
dwells  in  the  middle  sphere  as  the  untouchable,  the 
indifferent,  the  unattached,  the  unacting  and 
thrill-less.  Then  the  soul  is  unhampered,  inde- 
endent,  and  unabstracted.    Zi> ^"'  ' 

In  the  fourth  stage  the  soul  becomes  absolutely 
pure,  through  the  disappearance  of  the  sense  of  ego 
—  the  ego  which  is  identical  with  ignorance,  passion, 
and  flesh.  It  feels  as  though  it  does  not  live  because 
vanity  is  gone  for  ever.  It  comes  to  the  state  of 
righteousness  through  the  death  of  sin  and  sorrow. 
Thus  through  the  ending  of  misery,  peace  together 
with  highest  knowledge  arises.  This  is  the  beginning 
of  the  state  of  Nirvana  —  of  perfect  ecstasy,  of  bliss, 
and  of  immortality.  The  soul  is  now  for  ever  free, 
enjoying  in  its  own  sphere  of  glory  —  free  for  ever 
from  birth  and  death,  disease  and  ignorance,  bondage 
and  relative  liberation.  It  attains  supreme  happi- 
ness, it  comes  to  its  own  immortality.  Compare 
this  teaching  of  the  Buddha   with   the   teachings 


APPENDIX  177 

of  the  Upanishads  and  the  Gita.  The  Buddha's 
teaching  about  the  ultimate  state  of  the  soul  is 
based  upon  the  Vedanta.  He  verified  to  his  satis- 
faction the  conclusions  of  the  Upanishads  in  his 
own  life  during  the  six  years  of  meditation  under 
the  Bodhi  tree. 

If  it  is  still  asked  what  really  is  this  Nirvana,  we 
answer  in  the  words  of  the  Vedic  Rishi : 

"'Wherein,  O  Holy  One,  does  the  soul  stand?* 
*Ah,  my  dearest,  the  soul  stands  in  her  own 
majesty/  " 

P.  10,  1.  12 

The  Buddha  has  been  much  misunderstood,  not 
only  by  his  enemies,  but  also  by  his  followers.  He 
taught  that  speculations  as  to  the  origin  and  destiny 
of  souls  and  of  the  universe  do  not  help  us  to  lead 
a  noble  and  virtuous  life.  We  cannot  determine  by 
abstract  reasoning  the  nature  of  God's  relation  to 
man  or  the  nature  of  the  highest  aim  of  hfe.  All 
that  is  required  of  man  is  to  be  good :  he  ought  to 
love  all  and  hve  for  all.  The  Buddha  taught  the 
middle  way  of  avoiding  two  extremes,  viz.  self- 
indulgence  and  self-mortification,  and  following  a 
path  which  opens  the  eye  to  truth,  imfolds  the 
understanding,  confers  peace  of  mind,  bestows 
wisdom,  and  leads  to  enlightenment.  To  reaUse  the 
highest  aim  of  life  he  taught  his  disciples  to  follow 
the  eightfold  path : 

Right  views. 

Right  aspirations. 

Right  speech. 

Right  conduct. 


178  BRAHMADARSANAM 

Right  living  (without  hurting  any  living 

thing). 
Right  effort  (self-control). 
Right  watchfulness. 

Right  rapture  (through  contemplation  of 
the  vanities  of  life). 
As  the  Buddha  did  not  accept  the  authority  of 
the  Vedas,  as  he  had  no  faith  in  a  personal  God,  and 
as  he  did  not  believe  in  the  soul  as  an  everlasting 
entity,  he  is  regarded  by  the  Hindus  as  a  heterodox 
teacher. 

P.  12,  1.  16.    Date  of  the  Vedas 

Nothing  is  more  difficult  than  to  discover  the 
actual  dates  of  the  Vedas  and  Upanishads,  as  well 
as  those  of  later  Sanscrit  teachers  and  poets.  Hindu 
Sanscrit  scholars  have  not  been  able  to  accept  the 
dates  given  by  European  savants ;  as  a  general  rule 
the  latter  have  a  tendency  to  choose  the  latest 
possible  dates.  Personally,  I  believe  that  Buddha 
lived  at  a  much  earlier  date  than  680  B.C.,  and  in 
this  I  am  supported  by  the  Tibetan  and  Chinese 
records.  As  for  the  date  of  the  Vedas  and  Upani- 
shads, the  Hindus  believe  that  they  exist  perpetu- 
ally, that  is  to  say,  that  they  are  as  imperishable  as 
the  human  soul.  Not  only  the  spirit  but  also  its 
medium  has  a  self-revealing  nature  by  virtue  of 
which  they  present  themselves  before  the  inner  eye 
of  the  Yogi  in  Samadhi.  Max  Miiller  divides  the 
Vedic  literature  into  four  periods  —  the  Chhandas, 
Mantra,  Brahamana,  and  Sutra ;  and  as  each  period 
is  prior,  if  not  to  the  origin,  at  least  to  the  spreading 
and  political  ascendency  of  Buddhism  in  the  fourth 


APPENDIX  179 

century  before  Christ,  he,  by  assigning  two  hundred 
years  to  each  period,  arrives  at  about  1200  b.c.  as 
the  latest  date  at  which  we  may  suppose  the  Vedic 
hymns  to  have  been  composed. 

Dr.  Haug  fixes  the  very  commencement  of  the 
Vedic  Hterature  between  2400  and  2000  b.c.  by 
assigning  about  five  hundred  years  to  each 
period. 

Nothing  positive  is  known  as  to  the  time  when 
the  Vedas  and  Upanishads  were  reduced  to  writing ; 
curiously  enough  all  European  scholars  acknowledge 
this,  but  of  course  they  must  cook  some  dates  to 
satisfy  their  scientific  consciences. 


P.  15,  1.  12.    Study  of  Vedanta 

To  be  able  to  practise  Vedanta  successfully,  and 
realise  the  content  of  our  deeper  self,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  acquire  those  powers  and  develop  those 
faculties  which  contribute  towards  the  perfection 
of  human  nature.  The  Hindu  teachers  instruct 
their  pupils  to  acquire  Dharma,  i.e.  that  substance 
or  essence,  the  possession  of  which  makes  man 
perfect  as  God,  and  without  which  man  does  not 
even  deserve  to  be  called  man.  The  nature  of 
Dharma  can  be  understood  from  what  follows : 

1.  The  disciple  must  try  to  develop  his  (or  her) 

powers  of  remembrance,  so  that  he  (or  she) 
may  not  forget  all  the  lessons  he  (or  she)  has 
learnt. 

2.  He  (or  she)  must  practise  forgiveness;    even 

the  thought  of  revenge  must  be  completely 
annihilated. 


180  BRAHMADARSANAM 

3.  He  (or  she)  must  not  let  the  mind  be  disturbed 

by  sorrow  or  misfortune. 

4.  He    (or   she)    must  never,   even   in   thought, 

desire  to  appropriate  unlawfully  another's 
property. 

5.  He  (or  she)  must  keep  the  body  clean  and  the 

heart  pure. 

6.  He  (or  she)  must  control  the  senses  in  such  a 

way  that  the  activity  of  the  senses,  viz.  of 
sight,  hearing,  smell,  speech,  touch,  hands, 
feet,  excretory  and  generative  organs,  and 
lastly,  the  faculty  of  attention,  be  ever 
directed  rigorously  to  the  side  of  morality, 
decency,  and  health. 

7.  He  (or  she)  must  devote  heart  and  soul  to  the 

investigation  of  soul-truths  and  nature- 
truths.  The  development  of  the  powers  of 
intellect,  understanding,  and  intuition  is 
the  one  thing  needful.  For  this  purpose 
the  disciple  must  have  recourse  to  all  those 
methods,  physical,  mental,  and  yogic,  which 
are  calculated  to  unfold  his  (or  her)  latent 
powers. 

8.  He  (or  she)  must  be  truthful  in  thought,  speech, 

and  deed.  He  (or  she)  must  be  sincere, 
helpful,  and  full  of  love  for  men  and  animals. 

9.  He  (or  she)  must  develop  faith  in  and  reverence 

for  God.  Longing  or  activity  for  the  ac- 
quisition of  temporal  things  is  to  be  sup- 
pressed. Indulgence  in  passion,  anger,  envy, 
greed,  and  stupidity  should  be  strictly 
avoided. 
These  are  the  Ten  Limbs  of  Dharma.  Their 
Sanscrit  names  are : 


APPENDIX  181 

1.  Dhriti.  6.    Indriya-Nigraha. 

2.  Ksma.  7.   Dhi. 

3.  Dama.  8.   Vidya. 

4.  Asteya.  9.   Satya. 

5.  Sancha.  10.   Akrodha. 
See  Manu  Sdmhita,  vi.  91-94. 


P.  22,  1.  7 

Kapila's  name  occurs  in  all  the  six  Darsanas,  in 
the  Mahabharata,  in  the  Bhagavata,  in  the  Puranas, 
and  in  Kalidasa's  and  Magh's  poetical  works.  The 
earliest  reference  to  Kapila  in  the  Vedas  occurs  in 
the  following  verse : 

"He  who  one  alone  superintends  every  source 
of  production  —  who  endowed  his  son,  the  Rishi 
Kapila,  at  the  commencement  of  the  creation, 
with  virtue,  knowledge,  renunciation  of  worldly 
desires,  and  superhuman  powers,  and  who  looked 
at  him  when  he  was  born"  (Svetdsvatara  Upanishad, 
ch.  V.  2). 

Kapila  must  have  lived  before  the  Buddha,  as  the 
latter  appears  to  have  borrowed  many  of  his  ideas 
from  him. 

The  following  verse  probably  forms  the  founda- 
tion of  Kapila's  Darsana : 

"The  one  unborn  (soul)  for  his  enjoyment  ap- 
proaches the  one  unborn  (nature)  which  is  red, 
white,  and  black,  of  one  form  and  producing  a 
manifold  offspring;  the  other  who  is  unborn 
abandons  her  (nature)  whose  enjoyment  he  has 
enjoyed"  (Svetdsvatara  Upanishad  of  the  Black 
Yagur,  Veda  iv.  5). 


182  BRAHMADARSANAM 

P.  23,  1.  5 

The  actual  book  which  Kapila  wrote,  or  the 
literary  or  oral  form  in  which  he  communicated  his 
philosophy  to  Asuri,  his  disciple,  is  lost.  But  his 
teaching  has  been  embodied  in  the  Tattva  Samasa, 
in  the  Samkhya  Sutras,  in  the  Karika,  in  the 
Samkhya-Pravachan  Bhashya,  and  other  works. 
All  these  books  were  probably  compiled  between  a 
few  centuries  before  and  after  the  birth  of  Christ. 
The  best  known  commentaries  on  the  Samkhya 
Sutras  are  those  of  Aniruddha  and  Vijnana-Bhikshu. 
Isvara  Krishna's  Karika  is  also  a  good  handbook 
on  the  subject. 

P.  23,  1.  9.    Kapila's  Date 

Three  copper  plates  of  great  antiquity  have 
recently  been  unearthed  in  the  district  of  Simoga, 
Mysore.  One  of  these  plates  bears  the  following 
inscription : 

"A  gift  of  land  given  by  King  Janamenjaya,  son 
of  King  Parikshit,  dated  89  of  the  era  of  King 
Yudhisthir." 

89  of  the  Yudhisthir  era  corresponds  to  2359  B.C. 

Sri  Krishna,  in  his  Gita,  mentions  Kapila:  "I 
am  sage  Kapila  among  the  saints"  (x.  26).  Thus 
showing  that  Kapila  was  well  known  as  a  philosopher 
during  Sri  Krishna's  lifetime.  Hence  Kapila  must 
have  lived  prior  to  Sri  Krishna. 

The  Mahabharata  tells  us  that  Sri  Krishna  was 
King  Yudhisthir's  contemporary.  Now,  according 
to  Kalhan,  the  historian  of  Kashmir,  Yudhisthir's 


APPENDIX  183 

reign  begins  653  years  after  the  commencement  of 
the  KaHyuga  (Rdjtarangini,  i.  56). 

At  the  present  moment  5017  years  of  the  Kaliyuga 
have  passed  away,  according  to  the  Hindu  Calendar. 
Hence  deducting  653  from  5017  we  get  4364  years; 
and  deducting  1916,  the  present  year,  from  4364, 
we  get  2448  B.C.  Thus  Yudhisthir's  reign  began  in 
2448  B.C. 

The  Vishnu  Purana  as  well  as  the  Bhagavata 
Purana  record  that  Sri  Krishna  left  this  earth  for 
heaven  at  the  end  of  the  first  period  of  the  Kaliyuga 
(see  V.  P.  4/24/35,  5/38/8,  and  4/24/40,  and  B.  P. 
12/2/29  and  1/15/36,  with  Sridhar's  tika). 

Then  again  it  is  also  recorded  that  the  constella- 
tion Ursa  Major  (Saptarshi)  was  in  the  Nakshatra 
(asterism)  Magha  during  King  Parikshit's  reign. 
From  this  hint  it  has  been  shown,  according  to 
astronomical  calculation,  that  King  Parikshit  reigned 
about  2084  b.c.  It  is  certain  that  Yudhisthir  was 
Parikshit's  predecessor. 

Sri  Krishna  therefore  lived  at  least  2448  B.C., 
and  Kapila's  date  must  be  reckoned  a  few  centuries 
prior  to  Sri  Krishna's.  I  do  not  see  any  diflBculty, 
considering  the  weight  of  evidence,  in  placing  Kapila 
prior  to  3000  b.c. 

P.  41,  1.  2.    Karmaloka 

The  term  Karmaloka  signifies  the  plane  of  action. 
The  doctrine  of  Karma,  or  moral  retribution,  is 
common  to  the  Buddhist,  Hindu,  and  Jain  religions. 
In  one  sense  Karma  stands  for  the  Cosmic  Law  which 
determines  physical  and  spiritual  evolution;  in 
another  sense  it  is  an  abstract  term  which  connotes 


184  BRAHMADARSANAM 

such  ideas  as  "moral  ideal,"  "fate,"  "transmigra- 
tion," "unseen  force,"  "destiny."  The  Jiva  is  sup- 
posed to  possess  an  ethereal  body  called  the  Karma 
body,  and  the  plane  on  which  this  body  plays  its  part 
in  this  life,  as  well  as  in  the  life  after  death,  is  called 
Karmaloka.  The  wheel  of  Karma  revolves  perpetu- 
ally, and  its  rotation  can  only  be  stopped,  according 
to  Sri  Krishna,  by  disinterested  action;  according 
to  Ramanuja,  by  God's  grace  secured  through  loving 
adoration;  and  lastly,  according  to  Sankara,  by  the 
knowledge  of  the  unity  of  the  soul  with  God. 

P.  48,  1.  4.    On  the  Inconsistencies  of  Science 

Science  is  no  less  full  of  inconsistencies  than 
theology.  Let  us  examine  some  of  the  most  fashion- 
able scientific  theories  of  our  age. 

What  is  the  faith  of  the  Atomists?  An  atom  is 
so  very  small  that  it  cannot  be  smaller.  Is  it  con- 
sistent with  any  rational  principle  that  a  particle 
or  part  of  a  thing  can  be  only  of  such  and  such  a 
size,  and  cannot  be  less  than  such  a  size?  Is  not 
this  a  contradiction.'' 

Consider  our  belief  in  ether  —  a  hypothetical  sub- 
stance invented  to  account  for  the  action  of  bodies 
upon  each  other  at  a  distance.  It  is  the  most  dense 
as  well  as  the  most  attenuated  thing  in  our  solar 
system.  Can  we  think  of  a  thing  possessing  such 
diametrically  opposite  qualities?  And  yet  the 
reality  of  ether  is  something  the  scientific  mind  is 
forced  to  assume. 

Take  our  ideas  about  motion.  All  lifeless  things, 
unless  moved  by  an  external  force,  are  at  rest. 
Physical  science  says  that  molecules,  atoms,  and 


APPENDIX  185 

electrons  are  self-energising,  self-propelled,  and  are 
moving  for  ever  and  ever.  Thus  self-movement, 
which  in  the  case  of  atoms  is  supposed  to  be  the 
rule,  is  denied  to  things  into  the  composition  of 
which  the  atoms  enter.  Is  this  consistent  ?  Gravity 
and  friction  are  the  causes  of  things  remaining  on 
the  earth,  and  yet  electrons  are  characterised  by  the 
absence  of  both.  Again,  the  larger  universes,  such 
as  the  solar  and  sidereal  systems,  are  supposed  to 
be  governed  by  the  same  laws  as  the  smaller 
universes,  such  as  atoms,  electrons,  etc. ;  perpetual 
movement,  absolute  want  of  friction,  unsteadiness, 
destructions,  and  dissolutions;  our  ideas  about 
spatial  position  and  resistance  do  not  hold  good; 
our  geometrical  and  arithmetical  conceptions  do 
not  help  us  to  measure  the  vastly  great  and  the 
vastly  little  of  solar  physics  and  chemistry.  Looked 
at  from  our  earth  the  sun  is  immobile,  but  in  com- 
parison with  other  suns  it  is  moving.  The  earth  has 
weight,  as  have  all  things  on  its  surface,  but  the 
entire  universe  has  no  weight,  neither  at  the  terres- 
trial centre  can  any  body  possess  any  weight.  A 
circle,  we  all  know,  is  a  straight  line,  yet  at  any  given 
point  it  is  not  so ;  the  globe  is  a  plane,  yet  any  given 
section  is  not  so.  Walking  over  the  globe,  do  we 
ever  come  below  the  globe?  Science  is  one  huge 
Maya! 

P.  88,  1.  3     Pre-Existence 

There  are  many  people  who  readily  believe  in 
future  life,  but  are  very  doubtful  as  to  the  truth  of 
past  life,  or  the  pre-existence  of  the  soul.  They 
forget  that  all  the  logic  that  holds  good  for  future 
life  holds  equally  good  for  past  life.     No  sense  can 


186  BRAHMADARSANAM 

be  made  out  of  the  word  "immortality"  unless  it  is 
taken  to  mean  that  it  is  co-extensive  or  parallel  with 
infinite  time  —  if  we  are  to  measure  the  soul's  dura- 
tion by  time.  But  if  we  consider  the  soul  as  spiritual, 
and  time  as  material,  the  former  independent  of  the 
latter,  then  the  immortality  of  the  soul  would  have 
to  be  indicated  by  the  word  "eternal."  In  meta- 
physics we  have  to  reject  all  argument  drawn  from 
what  is  called  in  the  Vedanta  the  wpddhi  nature  of 
the  soul,  which  means  the  anthropomorphic  super- 
imposition  of  the  phenomenal  attributes  of  cause, 
time,  and  space  upon  Pure  Spirit.  Yet  most  people, 
when  they  think  of  death  and  the  hereafter,  want 
to  be  satisfied  as  to  the  survival  of  the  phenomenal 
identity  of  the  self;  and  it  is  exactly  these  people 
who  are  not  equally  curious  to  find  out  whether 
their  expectation  of  the  phenomenal  survival  of  self 
has  anything  to  do  with  the  phenomenal  pre- 
existence  of  the  self,  prior  to  their  physical  birth. 
Perhaps  they  satisfy  themselves  with  the  thought 
that  God  creates  anew  the  soul  of  the  child  as  soon 
as  it  sees  the  light  of  day.  But  they  do  not  seem 
to  think  that  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  God  from 
destroying  the  soul  as  soon  as  the  body  dies. 
Perhaps  they  believe  that  it  is  inconsistent  with 
God's  mercy  to  destroy.  Philosophy,  of  course, 
must  remain  silent  when  people  make  their  wish 
the  father  of  their  thought. 

Without  assuming  the  pre-existence  of  the  soul 
it  is  impossible  on  any  other  hypothesis,  such  as 
heredity,  to  explain  such  facts  as  memory,  different 
levels  of  intellectuality,  spirituality,  and  morality 
in  different  human  beings.  The  doctrine  of  heredity 
tacitly  assumes  the  origin  of  mind  or  soul  from  body 


APPENDIX  187 

or  matter,  and  thereby  makes  the  soul  share  the  fate 
of  body  or  matter.  Thus  such  doctrines  lead  to 
belief  in  race-immortality,  but  not  to  belief  in  the 
individual  survival  of  spirit.  Many  of  the  joys  and 
sorrows,  the  friendships  and  enmities  of  our  lives, 
which  appear  to  be  uncaused  by,  or  unconnected 
with,  events  in  this  life,  are  explained  by  the  assump- 
tion of  a  prior  life,  or  lives,  in  which  death  took 
place  before  merit  or  virtue  was  conjoined  with 
reward  or  happiness,  and  demerit  or  vice  was  con- 
joined with  punishment  or  misery.  Thus  the  work- 
ing of  an  inexorable  moral  law,  which  no  one  seems 
to  call  in  question,  can  only  be  fulfilled  provided  the 
soul's  continuous  existence  remains  unaflFected  by 
foreign  influences. 

This  theory  of  an  unchangeable  moral  law  and 
a  continuous  soul  life  cannot  be  shown  to  be  in- 
consistent with  the  moral  will  of  a  just  God.  The 
grace  of  God  is  not  like  the  capricious  will  of  a  king 
towards  his  favourite,  but  is  showered  in  abundance 
as  soon  as  the  sinning  soul  abandons  its  old  ways 
and  takes  to  the  glorious  road  of  virtue  and  wisdom. 
And  thus  it  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  reconcile  God's 
grace,  moral  law,  continuous  life,  and  self-exertion 
—  the  whole  result  being,  as  Sri  Krishna  says,  "By 
many  a  new  birth  made  pure,  she  treads  at  last  the 
Highest  Path." 

P.  90,  1.  24.    Agnosticism 

In  India  the  word  Nastika  means  those  who  do 
not  believe  in  the  universality  and  efficacy  of  the 
law  of  Karma,  in  the  Veda  as  the  revealed  word  of 
God,  in  the  existence  and  survival  of  the  soul,  in 
the  existence  of  a  personal  God,  in  the  fruition  of 


188  BRAHMADARSANAM 

religious  work,  in  the  hereafter,  and  lastly,  in  the 
existence  of  any  reality  beyond  the  perceptible 
world.  The  followers  of  Vrihaspati,  Charvvak,  and 
the  Buddha  are  nicknamed  Nastikas. 

P.  100,  1.  3 

Historically  it  is  quite  an  established  fact  that 
the  reUgion  of  love  preached  by  Krishna  or  Christa 
is  prior  to  the  religion  of  love  preached  by  Christ. 
How  far  Krishna  or  Christa  is  the  same  person  as 
Kristos  or  Christ  we  do  not  know.  Here  we  shall 
mention  one  or  two  facts  to  show  that  Krishna-ity, 
or  Christ-aity,  was  known  to  the  world  —  especially 
to  the  Greeks  —  at  least  a  few  centuries  prior  to  the 
birth  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth ;  it  was  known  to  the 
Greeks,  as  well  as  to  the  Indians,  as  the  religion  of 
the  worship  of  Vasudeva,  which  was  one  of  the 
names  of  Krishna.  In  ancient  Indian  literature  it 
is  also  known  as  the  Ekanta,  or  the  Unitarian 
Church. 

(i.)  The  first  inscription  which  refers  to  Krishna 
or  Vasudeva  was  found  at  Ghosundi  in  Rajputana. 
It  refers  to  the  construction  of  a  hall  of  worship 
dedicated  to  Samkarsana  and  Vasudeva  —  both 
names  refer  to  KjishiA.  The  date,  judging  from 
the  characters  in  the  inscription,  must  be  at  least 
two  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ. 

(ii.)  A  second  inscription  found  at  Besnagar  says : 
"Heliodora,  the  Grecian  ambassador  from  Amtali- 
kita  (Antialkidas),  erects  this  column  with  the  image 
of  Garuda  at  the  top  in  honour  of  Vasudeva  —  the 
God  of  Gods."  This  inscription  was  engraved  in 
the  early  part  of  the  second  century  B.C.    The 


APPENDIX  189 

religion  of  Krishna  or  Kristos  was  adopted  by  the 
Greeks  before  the  second  century  B.C. 

(iii.)  The  Niddesa  gives  a  hst  of  different  religious 
sects  which  prevailed  in  India  before  the  fourth 
century  B.C.,  and  in  this  list  occurs  the  name  of 
Vasudeva  or  Krishna.  The  Niddesa  is  a  Pali 
Canonical  Book.  From  this  we  gather  that  Krishna- 
ity  prevailed  at  least  400  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ. 

(iv.)  Panini's  commentator,  Patanjali,  says  Vasu- 
deva is  the  name  of  the  "worshipful,"  i.e.  of  one  who 
is  the  supreme  object  of  worship.  (See  on  Panini, 
iv.  3.  98.)     Panini  lived  at  least  400  b.c. 

(v.)  In  the  fourth  century  b.c.  Megasthenes,  the 
Grecian  ambassador,  came  to  the  court  of  the  Indian 
Emperor  Chandragupta,  and  in  his  diary  he  mentions 
the  prevalence  in  India  of  the  worship  of  Vasudeva- 
Krishna.  He  says  that  Herakles  was  specially 
worshipped  by  the  Sourasenvi,  an  Indian  nation, 
in  whose  land  are  two  great  cities,  Methora  and 
Kleisobora,  and  through  it  flows  the  navigable  river 
Jobres.  Of  course  Herakles  is  Krishna,  Methora  is 
Mathura,  Jobres  is  the  river  Jamuna,  and  the 
Sourasenvi  are  the  Surasenas,  a  race  of  Kshatriyas. 

(For  further  evidence  in  support  of  this  point  see 
Bhandarkar.) 

P.  100,  I.  23 

There  are  two  ways  of  understanding  the  meta- 
physical attributes  of  God.  First,  by  starting  with 
the  human  intelligence  as  limited,  and  therefore 
largely  illusory,  and  assuming  that  the  human  in- 
telligence, by  leading  an  ethical  and  religious  life,  by 


190  BRAHMADARSANAM 

the  practice  of  Yoga  and  Samadhi,  can  unfold  its 
hidden  virtues  and  thereby  gradually  come  to  a 
larger  comprehension  of  the  metaphysical  nature  of 
the  Divine  attributes.  As  man  becomes  wise,  good, 
and  free,  in  the  deeper  sense,  he  realises  that  good- 
ness, wisdom,  and  freedom  are  real  virtues  and 
attributes  existing  in  actuality  and  fulness  in  the 
Divine  personality  of  God.  His  spiritual  illumina- 
tion, or  re-birth,  is  in  his  view  a  gift  of  the  Lord 
owing  to  His  possessing  these  attributes  in  abun- 
dance ;  so  that  salvation,  according  to  this  view,  does 
not  imply  the  loss  of  the  illusion  of  individuality, 
but  the  gaining  of  a  larger  individuality,  a  spiritual 
re-birth  through  God's  grace,  through  the  possession 
of  such  virtues,  not  in  their  full  perfection,  but  only 
in  a  degree  removed  from  that  of  God. 

There  is  another  way  of  looking  at  the  question. 

Man's  individuality  has  a  dual  aspect.  In 
essence  his  soul  is  of  the  same  substance  as  God  — 
in  fact,  the  soul  is  no  other  than  God  Himself,  but 
this  soul  is  associated  with  a  sheath  of  nescience  or 
illusion.  By  virtue  of  the  Divine  essence,  man's 
soul  is  continually  struggling  to  come  to  a  realisation 
of  his  Divine  destiny  by  throwing  off  this  accidental 
sheath  of  illusion.  During  this  struggle  for  Divine 
existence  man  passes  through  three  stages  of  in- 
tellectual life.  In  the  first  stage  he  has  a  dim  vision 
of  his  spiritual  nature  which  is  largely  obscured  by 
the  materialistic  forces  of  his  body.  In  this  stage 
there  is  a  continuous  conflict  for  mastery  between 
higher  and  lower  sentiments,  between  his  self- 
regarding  and  his  altruistic  views.  In  the  second 
stage  his  intellect  discovers  permanent  forms, 
abiding  laws,   governing   the  flux   of  phenomena. 


APPENDIX  191 

He  feels  that  there  are  types  of  ideals  which  lead 
the  inner  life  to  saner  thinking,  and  to  a  moral  way 
of  acting.  Along  with  this  his  intellect  perceives 
the  working  of  a  deeper  law  in  the  outer  cosmos; 
he  learns  to  view  God  as  one  making  the  outer  cos- 
mos more  in  rhythm  with  the  pulsations  of  the  inner 
moral  ideal.  The  last  stage  of  his  development  is 
one  of  indescribable  peace,  love,  and  happiness.  In 
this  stage  he  intuitively  sees  that  God,  Man,  and 
Nature  are  like  three  tones  emanating  from  the 
vibration  of  one  chord  —  all  three  distinct  from  each 
other,  yet  without  difference.  The  individuality  of 
man  becomes  much  more  individual  by  losing  its 
transient  character  through  the  inflow  of  Divine 
grace.  Hence  salvation,  according  to  this  view,  is 
the  realisation  of  the  universal  which  at  first  was 
present  only  in  a  potential  state.  In  the  spiritual 
sense  it  is  not  possible  to  draw  a  line  between  God 
and  Man  when  the  latter  reaches  the  level  of  the 
former. 

Cf.  Caird's  Spinoza,  chap.  xi.  (Blackwood's 
Philosophical  Classics). 

P.  117,  1.  16 

Students  of  Greek  philosophy  may  be  reminded 
of  Aristotle's  distinction  between  active  and  passive 
inteUigence. 

By  "active  intelligence"  is  meant  something 
separable  from  matter,  impassive,  unmixed,  being 
in  its  essential  nature  an  activity.  It  has  no  inter- 
mission in  its  thinking,  it  is  only  in  separation  from 
matter  that  it  is  itseK,  and  it  is  immortal  and  ever- 
lasting, while  "passive  intelhgence"  is  perishable. 


192  BRAHMADARSANAM 

and  does  not  think  at  all  apart  from  this.  Of  active 
intelligence  Aristotle's  great  commentator,  Alexander 
of  Aphrodisias,  said  that  it  is  numerically  the  same 
in  all  thinking  creatures,  arid  that  it  is  identical  with 
God.  Again,  Ibn  Roschd  explained  Aristotle's 
"active  intelligence"  by  saying  that  there  is  only 
one  and  the  same  intelligence  in  the  universe,  and 
all  that  we  claim  as  our  thought  is  not  really  man's 
but  God's.  A  third  meaning  has  been  put  upon 
Aristotle's  "active  intelligence."  According  to  this 
interpretation  active  intelligence  is  neither  God's 
nor  common  to  all  thinking  beings,  but  is  the  best 
and  the  most  transcendental  part  of  the  mortal  soul 
which  has  no  physical  appendage  to  it. 

P.  164,  1.  15 

I  have  illustrated  the  doctrine  of  Maya  from  well- 
known  facts  of  hypnotism,  psychology  of  illusion, 
magic,  and  yoga  creation.  All  these  examples  tend 
to  show  that  we  cannot  draw  any  hard-and-fast  line 
between  mind  and  matter;  the  subject  of  psycho- 
nervous  relation  is  extremely  complicated,  and  as 
yet  the  theory  of  parallelism  has  not  satisfactorily 
explained  all  the  facts. 

The  doctrine  of  Maya  neither  refutes  nor  estab- 
lishes any  cosmic  theory,  it  only  sums  up  in  one 
word  the  mysterious,  unintelligible  nature  of  the 
world  of  mind  and  matter;  it  neither  says  that  the 
world  has  an  ideal  or  a  material  origin — what  it  does 
affirm  is  that  the  origin,  substance,  and  law  of  life, 
mind  and  energy  are  beyond  our  comprehension. 


GENERAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  works  are  recommended  to  those  who 
wish  to  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  diflFerent 
aspects  of  Vedanta: 

Sri  Ramanuja's  Commentary  on  the  Brahma  Sutras, 
translated  by  G.  Thibaut  (Sacred  Books  of  the 
East  series). 

The  Upanishads,  translated  by  Max  Mliller,  and  other 
books  of  the  S.B.E.  series,  edited  by  Max  Muller. 

Max  Miller.     Sri  Ramakrishna :  His  Life  and  Sayings. 
Longmans,  London. 
The  Six  Systems  of  Lidian  Philosophy. 
Three  Lectures  on  the  Vedanta  Philosophy. 
India :  What  can  it  teach  us  ? 

Deussen,  p.  The  System  of  the  Vedanta  (Sri  Sankara's 
Philosophy).  Open  Court  Publishing  Co.,  Chicago 
(translated  from  the  German). 

Aknold,  Sir  Edwin.  The  Song  Celestial.  Trlibner  and 
Co.,  London. 

Srimad  Bhagavad  Gitft.    Tranriated  by  M.  M.  Dutt. 

Translated     by     Swftmi     Paraminanda.       Vedftnta 

Centre,  Boston,  1913. 
Translated   by   Barnett.     Bamett,   Dent   and   Co., 

London. 

Narada  Sutra.     An  Inquiry  into  Love.     Translated  from 
the  Sanscrit  by  E.  T.  Sturdy.     John  M.  Watkins. 
London  (2nd  edition). 
o  193 


194  BRAHMADARSANAM 

The  Life  of  the  Swami  Vivekananda.  By  his  Eastern 
and  Western  disciples.     3  vols.     Himalayan  series. 

Swami  Vivekananda.  Complete  works.  Mayavati 
Memorial  Edition.     Himalayan  series. 

Inspired  Talks.  Recorded  by  an  American  disciple. 
Ramakrishna  Mission,  Madras. 

Jnana  Yoga.     2  vols.     Vedanta  Society,  New  York. 

Raja  Yoga.     Vedanta  Society,  New  York. 

Karma  Yoga.     Vedanta  Society,  New  York. 

Bhakti  Yoga.     Vedanta  Society,  New  York. 

My  Master  (Sri  Ramakrishna). 

Swami  Paramananda.     The  Path  of  Devotion.    Vedanta 
Society,  New  York. 
Vedanta  in  Practice. 
The  Way  of  Peace  and  Blessedness. 

Swami    Ramakrishnananda.     The    Universe    and    the 
Man. 
The  Soul  of  Man. 
The  Path  to  Perfection. 
Sri  Krishna,  the  King-Maker. 

Swami  Abhedananda.    How  to  be  a  Yogi. 

Sister  Nivedita  (Miss  Noble),     The  Master  as  I  saw 
Him.     Longmans,  London  and  New  York. 
The  Web  of  Indian  Life.     Heinemann,  London. 
Studies  from  an  Eastern  Home.    Heinemann,  London. 
Kali  the  Mother.     Swan  Sonnenschein,  London. 
Footfalls  of  Indian  History.     Longmans,  London. 
Religion  and  Dharma. 

Ananda  Coomaraswamy.  Myths  of  the  Hindus  and 
Buddhists.     George  Harrap,  London. 

The  Sayings  of  Sri  Ramakrishna,  edited  by  Swami 
Abhedananda.     Vedanta  Society,  New  York. 

The   Gospel   of   Sri   Ramakrishna,   according   to   "M." 
Shortened  by  Swami  Abhedananda.     Vedanta  Society, 

New  York. 
English  edition.    Madras. 


GENERAL  BIBLIOGRAPHY       195 

James,  Professor  William.  The  Varieties  of  Religious 
Experience. 

Carpenter,  Edward.  A  visit  to  a  Gnani.  George 
Allen,  London.  And  later  works  by  the  same 
author. 

Desai,  S.  a.  The  Vedanta  of  Sankara.  A  Study  of  the 
Indian  Philosophy.     Luzac  and  Co.,  London. 

Oldenberg,  H.  Buddha,  translated  by  W.  Hoey. 
Williams  and  Norgate. 

Discourses  of  Gautama  the  Buddha.  Translated  by 
Silacara.     Probsthain  and  Co. 

Suzuki,  D.  T.  A  Brief  History  of  Early  Chinese  Philo- 
sophy. 

Giles,  L.     Chinese  Philosophy.  _ 

The  Samhita.  Translated  by  Sri  Ananda  Acharya. 
Francis  GriflSths,  London, 

Brajendra  Nath  Sil.  Positive  Sciences  of  the  Ancient 
Hindus. 

Weber.     History  of  Philosophy. 

McTaggart,  J.  E.  Human  Immortality  and  Pre- 
Existence.     Published  by  Edward  Arnold. 

Sri  Sankara's  Commentary  on  the  Vedanta  Sutras. 
Translated  by  G.  Thibaut  (S.B.E.S.). 


INDEX  OF  SANSCRIT  TERMS 

Achdrya.     Professor;    spiritual  guide  and  helper. 

achit.    Matter;    object  as  opposed  to  subject,  non  conscious. 

adrista.    Invisible;   the  unseen  cause  which  governs  and  shapes 

man's  destiny;    the  sum-total  of  Karma,  of  previous  life, 

which   produces   experience  —  pleasurable   or   painful  —  in 

this  life. 
advaita.    Non  dual ;     the    monistic    philosophy    which    teaches 

that  individual  life  cannot  be  other  than  universal  life. 
advaitin.    A  follower  of  the  School  of  Sri  Sankar,  who  revived 

the  monistic  philosophy  of  the  Upanishads. 
agni.    Heat  element;   fire,  both  as  potential  and  kinetic. 
aham-kdra.    Sense  of  individuality ;    ego  feeling  which  is  the 

dynamic   of    conduct.     "I-sense"    is    to    be    distinguished 

from  "  I-do "  —  the  latter  lies  at  the  bottom  of  life,  which 

is  aham-kdra. 
ajndna.    Senselessness.     Its    philosophical    meaning    refers    to 

man's  ignorance  about  God,  who  is  inseparable  from  his 

essential  being. 
dkdra.    The  formal  aspect  of  sense-experience,  without  which 

the  material  aspect  is  unintelligible.     Size,  shape,  colour, 

etc.,  are  the  forms  through  which  objects  present  them- 
selves to  our  senses. 
akasa.    The  space  which  contains  ether  —  the  source  of  sound. 
akshara.     The   imperishable  —  refers    to    the    immortal    nature 

of  God.     The  eternal,  abiding  Brahman. 
amrita.    The  goal  of  all  our  endeavours  and  inspirations,  viz. 

immortality.     The     liberated     soul     attains     immortality 

through  true  knowledge. 
dnanda.    Joy;    the  beatitude  which  is  to  be  realised  through 

prayer  and  meditation. 
aniruddha.     Freedom,   which  is  an   attribute   of  God;    hence 

in  God  perfect  freedom  is  supposed  to  be  embodied. 
197 


198  BRAHMADARSANAM 

anlakarana.  The  inner  psychical  machinery,  the  function  of 
which  is  to  translate  sense-images  into  motor  ideas; 
hence  the  intermediate  link  between  psychosis  and 
neurosis. 

antarydmin.  The  cognitive  power  —  both  intuitive  and  ratioci- 
native.  The  soul,  as  knowing  or  perceiving,  is  not 
different  from  God.  Hence  antarydmin  is  God  in  man's 
soul. 

anudbhuta  sakti.  The  potential  energy  in  a  state  of  equili- 
brium; unmanifested,  though  waiting  for  manifestation, 
either  as  heat,  or  mechanical  motion,  or  light,  or 
attraction. 

ap.  The  original  of  liquidity,  moisture,  viscosity,  etc.  One  of 
the  fundamental  constituents  of  the  cosmos. 

aparoksha.  Not  indirect  perception.  A  kind  of  perception 
in  which  the  observer,  the  psychical  process  of  observa- 
tion, and  the  object  observed  remain  undifferentiated 
and  undistinguished.  Aparoksha  is  possible  only  in 
Samadhi,  in  which  state  mind  ceases  to  function 
empirically. 

archd.  The  symbolical  representation  of  God,  having  for  its 
object  the  excitement  of  the  sentiment  of  worship  and 
veneration. 

arhat.  The  man  who  has  attained  perfection  by  following 
the  ethics  taught  by  the  Buddha. 

dsrama.  The  twice-born  castes  of  India  are  expected  to 
follow  four  dsramas,  viz.  to  acquire  learning  in  the  house 
of  the  teacher  during  the  first  twenty-four  years  of  life, 
to  lead  the  life  of  citizens  till  the  age  of  forty,  to  renounce 
the  duties  of  a  householder,  and  devote  themselves  to 
the  discovery  of  the  greater  truths  of  life  from  the  age 
of  forty  to  sixty,  and  after  sixty  to  give  to  the  younger 
generations  the  fruits  of  both  their  active  and  their  con- 
templative life.  Each  of  these  periods  or  stages  is  called 
an  dsrama. 

dsraya.  The  container  in  relation  to  the  contained ;  the  support 
in  relation  to  that  which  is  supported. 

Aauri.    Name  of  Kapila's  immediate  disciple. 

dtman.  (1)  The  psychological  ego;  (2)  the  metaphysical 
ground  or  basis  of  individuality;  (3)  the  synthetic  ground 
whereon  the  Universe  rests ;  (4)  God  —  personal  and  im- 
personal;   (5)  the  Absolute,  unrelated  to  the  Personal  God 


INDEX  OF  SANSCRIT  TERMS    199 

or  the  individual  egos ;   (6)  the  unity  of  all  —  man,  nature, 
and  God. 

tUmdndtmdviveka.  The  consciousness  of  difference  between 
self  and  not-self.  The  introspective  method  which  re- 
veals the  distinction  between  the  spheres  of  the  personal 
and  the  non-personal. 

avairdgya.  Attachment  to  the  impermanent  things  of  life 
with  the  consequent  degeneration  of  spiritual  per- 
ception. 

avatdra.  The  descent  of  Grod  on  to  the  human  plane.  An 
avatdra  is  an  "advent"  —  one  who  comes  through  pity 
for  man  to  lead  him  to  immortality. 

avidyd.  Psychologically,  avidyd  is  the  incapacity  of  man  to 
know  the  "whence  and  what  and  whereunto"  of  his  soul. 
Hence  the  agnosis  to  which  are  to  be  ascribed  the  ex- 
periences of  his  outer  life,  for  all  human  action  proceeds 
on  the  assumption  of  man's  ignorance  about  himself  — 
in  the  transcendental  sense. 

aviveka.  The  want  of  knowledge  about  the  relative  values 
of  the  revelations  of  the  transcendental  and  empirical 
consciousnesses.  This  ignorance  results  in  our  preferring 
the  things  of  sense  to  the  things  of  reason,  thus  causing 
the  mind  to  be  victimised  by  matter. 

avyakta.  Physically  —  the  homogeneous,  undifferentiated,  pri- 
mary substance  in  which  life,  matter,  and  energy  remained 
in  a  state  of  equilibrium. 

Psychologically  —  the  incomprehensible  and  unformu- 
lable  in  terms  of  science;  the  original  condition  of  the 
whole  cosmos. 

Baladeva.  Author  of  Govinda  Bhashya  and  many  other  tracts, 
of  the  School  of  Chaitajana  in  Bengal;  he  lived  about  400 
years  ago. 

hhakti.    Love  for  and  devotion  to  God. 

hhakti  yoga.  The  science  which  teaches  that  God  b  to  be  realised 
through  faith,  love,  and  devotion. 

Bhdrati  Tirtha.  A  great  teacher  of  the  Advaita  Vedanta 
School,  author  of  many  books;  he  flourished  about  600 
years  ago.  Some  scholars  think  that  he  is  identical 
with  Sayan  Acharya.  His  Panchadasi  and  Sivanmukti 
Viveka  are  well  known  in  India. 

Bhuta.  Physical  and  chemical  elements.  It  also  meana 
animals. 


200  BRAHMADARSANAM 

bodhisattva.  The  perfect  in  wisdom  and  holiness.  The 
Bodhisattvas  are  the  emancipated  souls  who  are  regarded 
by  the  Buddhists  as  perfect  beings. 

Brahma.     Adjective  from  Brahman. 

Brahman.  The  Impersonal  God  who  is  identical  with  the 
finite  soul.  Brahman  stands  for  the  One  Absolute 
Reality,  Substance,  Truth,  Consciousness,  Bliss,  and  Life. 

Brdhmana.  Bom  of  Brahma  —  the  great  Rishi,  who  is  the 
father  of  the  Science  of  Self-realisation,  and  hence  those 
who  follow  the  teachings  of  Brahma,  i.e.  reborn  in  tran- 
scendental truth. 

Brahmdnda.    The  universe  —  called  after  Rishi  Brahma. 

Buddha.  The  founder  of  the  religion  called  Buddhism,  bom 
in  Kapilabastu;  Prince  Siddhartha,  otherwise  called 
Amitava. 

buddhi.  The  understanding  which  creates  the  feeling  of  con- 
viction of  the  truth  of  a  conclusion  —  reached  after  weigh- 
ing the  pros  and  cons  of  a  subject.  Hence  buddhi  is  the 
faculty  of  determination,  and  thus  its  function  is  always 
the  assertion  of  a  position. 

buddhi  indriya.  The  sensory  organs  connected  with  the  sensory 
nerve  centres  —  producing  the  knowledge  of  extra-mental 
realities;   also  called  Jndn  indriyas. 

Caitanya.  The  pure  consciousness  identical  with  pure  Being. 
It  is  also  the  name  of  a  great  teacher  who  flourished  in 
Bengal.     Bom  a.d.  1485,  died  1533. 

ehakra.  The  centres,  situated  in  the  nervous  system,  of 
knowledge,  life,  activity,  etc. 

Chhdndogya   Upanishad.    The  name  of  a  philosophical    book. 

chit.    Intelligence. 

dahara  dkdsa.  The  inner  space  of  the  heart,  in  which  the  monistic 
knowledge  arises  —  corresponding  to  the  outer  space  in 
which  the  first  primary  vowel  sound  originates. 

daiva.    Adjective  of  deva. 

darsana.  The  philosophical,  metaphysical,  and  scientific  books 
of  the  Hindus  are  called  the  Darsanas. 

ddraanika.    One  versed  in  philosophy. 

Devas.  (1)  The  self-shining  beings,  (2)  the  knowledge-pro- 
ducing senses,  (3)  the  objects  revealed  by  the  knowledge- 
producing  senses. 

dhdrmika.  (1)  A  theologian,  (2)  a  believer  in  Vedic  and  Smfirta 
ritual  and  ceremony. 


INDEX  OF  SANSCRIT  TERMS    201 

dhydna.  Uninterrupted  reflection  on  a  subject  —  abstract  or 
concrete. 

dvaita.  (1)  Dual;  (2)  the  metaphysical  systems  which  recog- 
nise an  eternal,  unbridgeable  distinction  between  God 
and  man,  subject  and  object,  matter  and  spirit. 

dvaitin.     A  follower  of  dualistic  metaphysics. 

Gdrgi.  A  famous  Brahmavadini  mentioned  in  the  Brihada- 
ranyaka  Upanishad. 

Gautama  Buddha.     See  Buddha. 

Gitd.  The  sacred  sayings  of  Sri  Krishna,  known  as  Srimad 
Bhagavata  Gita. 

Gotama.    The  father  of  the  Nyaya  philosophy. 

guna.  The  seals  or  powers  which  are  the  causes  of  integration 
and  disintegration  in  nature. 

guru.  The  teacher  who  opens  the  eye  of  the  disciple  to  per- 
ceive the  divinity  of  his  soul,  thereby  helping  him  to 
effect  his  liberation.  Hence  guru  is  the  saviour  of  the 
soul. 

Hiranyagarbha.  The  Absolute  viewed  in  relation  to  the 
categories  of  time,  cause,  and  motion ;  becoming  in  relation 
to  being;  the  Cosmos  in  its  primeval  state  in  relation  to 
the  mind  of  God. 

indriya.  The  five  senses  of  knowledge  and  the  five  senses  of 
action  are  the  ten  indriyas.  To  these  is  added  the  mind 
—  which  directs  or  guides  or  controls  the  indriya. 

jagat.    The  moving  panorama  of  Nature. 

Jaimini.    The  founder  of  the  Minansa  philosophy. 

Jaina  religion.  The  names  Mahavir  and  Paresnath  are 
associated  with  the  origin  of  Jainism. 

jiva.    That  which  lives  and  dies,  viz.  organic  life. 

jiva  bhdva.  The  characteristics  of  a  jiva,  viz.  assimilation, 
reproduction,  adaptation,  response,  etc.  The  psychical 
characteristics  are  attachment  to  organic  activity  and  a 
clinging  to  the  preservation  of  body. 

jndna.  The  consciousness  of  the  independence  of  the  true 
self  of  the  psychical  and  material  sheaths,  shells,  en- 
velopes or  coverings,  together  with  the  knowledge  that 
intelligence  is  one  and  infinite.  Hence  Jndna  is  the 
essence  of  the  soul  and  of  God  —  the  knowledge  of  which 
is  the  cause  of  perfection. 

Jndna  yoga.  The  science  which  demonstrates  that  by  self- 
knowledge,  self-control,  and  self-reverence  man  can  attain 


202  BRAHMADARSANAM 

the  highest  end  of  life.  It  teaches  a  system  of  self-develop- 
ment through  the  expansion  of  the  understanding,  with 
a  view  to  transcend  the  limitations  of  Nature  and 
mind. 

Jndtri.  The  knower.  The  subject  comprehending  the  object 
is  the  knower  of  the  object. 

jneya.    The  object  presented  before  the  subject. 

Kabir.  Poet,  devotee,  the  singer;  born  a.d.  1398,  died  1518. 
His  poems  have  been  translated  into  English  by  Rabin- 
dranath  Tagore. 

Kaivalya.  The  state  of  perfection;  almost  synonymous  with 
Mukti.  The  perfect  soul,  freed  from  the  limitations  of 
material  nature,  enjoys  himself  without  the  fear  of  being 
reborn.  Hence  Kaivalya  is  the  transcendental  and  ideal 
state  of  bliss. 

KcUa.    Time. 

Kalpa.  A  period  of  four  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty 
millions  of  years  of  mortals,  the  measure  of  the  duration 
of  the  world. 

kalydna  gundkara.  The  mine  or  receptacle  of  all  auspicious  and 
lovely  qualities. 

Sri  Kantha.  The  founder  of  one  of  the  Schools  of  Vedftnta 
philosophy,  of  the  type  of  qualified  spiritual  monism; 
he  wrote  a  commentary  on  the  Br&hma  Sutras. 

kdrana.     Cause. 

kdrana  sarira.  The  spirit  or  soul  of  man  unconditioned  by 
the  material  body.  The  final  spiritual  substance  which 
remains  after  the  mortal  part  has  been  removed. 

karma  yoga.  The  philosophy  of  conduct  which  teaches  that 
action  finds  its  fulfilment  when  its  fruit  is  dedicated  to 
God. 

Karman.  The  law  according  to  which  the  agent  of  action 
enjoys  the  fruit  of  action. 

karmendriya.  The  motor  machinery  through  which  the 
active  impulse  of  the  ego  produces  change  in  the  material 
world,  viz.  the  hands,  feet,  organs  of  reproduction,  and 
organs  of  secretion.  Indriya  refers  to  the  psycho-nervous 
motor  and  sensory  centres. 

Kandda.    The  founder  of  the  Vaishesika  philosophy. 

Kapila.    The  founder  of  Samkhya  philosophy. 

Katha  Upanishad.  Called  also  Kathka  Upanishad  ■^  one  of 
the  most  important  of  the  Upanishads. 


INDEX  OF  SANSCRIT  TERMS    203 

Sri  Krishna.  Advent  of  God.  The  most  prominent  figure  in 
the  Mahabharata. 

Kumdra.  Name  of  a  Prajapati.  The  Mind-born  son  of 
Brahma. 

Kundalini.  The  substratum  of  bodily  and  mental  life, 
situated  within  the  nervous  system;  it  very  closely 
resembles  radio-activity. 

lUd.  The  emanation  of  the  cosmos  out  of,  and  absorption 
into,  the  mind  and  will  of  God;  understood,  by  analogy, 
as  Divine  play. 

Madhya  Achdrya.  Name  of  the  founder  of  the  Dvaita  or 
Dualistic  School  of  Philosophy.  He  was  a  Kanarese 
Brahman,  otherwise  called  Ananda  Tirtha.  He  lived 
between  1199  and  1278  a.d. 

Mdgha.     Name  of  a  poet,  the  author  of  Sisupalbad. 

mahdbhuta.     The  constituent  elements  of  the  universe. 

mahat.  The  first  great  principle.  It  refers  to  the  subjective 
or  psychic  substance,  through  the  guidance  of  which  primal 
matter  took  the  form  of  the  Cosmos. 

mdna.  The  central  faculty  which  directs  and  controls  the  sensory 
and  motor  organs. 

Mandukya  Upaniahad.     Name  of  a  well-known  Upanishad. 

mantra.  A  mantra  is  a  hymn;  also  the  formula  of  prayer,  or 
spell,  or  incantation. 

mdyd.  The  cosmic  magic  which  makes  a  shadow  of  substance, 
and  substance  of  a  shadow.  The  philosophic  view-point 
which  shows  how  the  transcendentally  unreal  and  non- 
existent becomes  (through  the  constitution  of  the 
cognitive  faculties  of  man)  the  empirically  real  and 
existent. 

Mimdnsd.     The  philosophical  teachings  of  Jaimini. 

Mithyd  jndna.     Refers  to  the  problem  of  error. 

mlechchha.  Non-Aryans,  those  living  outside  the  boundaries  of 
India. 

moksha.  The  ideal  conceived  by  our  understanding  as  the 
highest,  viz.  perfection  attained  through  the  complete 
eradication  of  all  limitations  —  spiritual,  moral,  mental, 
and  physical  —  to  which  the  human  soul  is  subjected. 

Mudrd-Rdkshasa.     Name  of  a  drama  by  Visakha  Datta. 

mukti.     Liberation  from  the  unreal. 

(1)  Mulddhdra,  (2)  Svddhishthdna,  (3)  Manipura,  (4)  Andhata, 
(5)  Vistuidha,  (6)  Sahasrdra.    The  six  chakras,  or  centres, 


204  BRAHMADARSANAM 

with  which  the  radium-like  vital  substance,  in  its  circula- 
tion through  the  nervous  system,  comes  in  contact,  thereby 
giving  rise  to  psycho-physical  action  and  rest.  A  chakra 
is  a  highly  complicated  nervous  machinery  for  absorbing 
and  radiating  life-waves  to  the  whole  system, 

Ndma-rupa.  The  presentative-representative  imiverse.  We 
understand  the  world  through  symbols  of  sound,  colour, 
etc.,  without  which  we  cannot  think.  We  construct  the 
world  by  associating  a  word  with  an  idea  or  image. 

Nirava.     The  silent  one. 

Niravadya.     The  eternally  pure. 

Nirguna  Brahman.  The  Eternal  Consciousness  viewed  as  un- 
conditioned. The  Impersonal  God  as  It  really  is  —  not 
as  He  or  She  is  conceived  by  the  worshipper  or  devotee. 

Nirvana.  The  state  of  perfection  in  which  the  ideal  becomes 
the  real,  and  the  consciousness  is  filled  through  and  through 
by  the  agreement  of  life  and  Life. 

Nirvikalpa-Samddhi.  The  highest  form  of  meditation,  in  which 
the  finite  soul  feels  its  identity  with  the  Infinite. 

Nivedita.  ("The  dedicated  one.")  Miss  Margaret  Noble,  who 
became  the  disciple  of  Swami  Vivekananda,  and  devoted 
her  life  to  the  service  of  India. 

nitya.     Eternal. 

Nydya.    Norm.    The  philosophy  founded  by  Gotama. 

OM.     The  symbolic  representation  of  the  Eternal  Mind. 

Pancardtra.  A  system  of  philosophical  religion  which  pre- 
vailed in  India  about  the  third  century  B.C.  It  teaches 
monotheism.  The  Pancaratra  Samhita  is  the  source  of 
this  system,  and  Bhakti  yoga  is  based  upon  it.  Ramanuja 
quotes  some  passages  from  this  work.  Modem  Vaisnav- 
ism  owes  its  origin  to  the  ancient  Pancaratra  system. 

paramdnu.     Atom. 

paravidyd.     The  transcendental  philosophy. 

Patanjali.     Author  of  the  Yoga  SQtras. 

pitri.     The  manes  of  the  forefathers. 

Pradyumna.     See  Vyuha. 

Prajdpati.  Lord  of  Creation.  In  the  Vedas  the  term  is  ap- 
plied to  Soma,  Agni,  etc.,  and  in  later  times  to  Vishnu, 
Siva,  etc. 

prajna.    Intuitional  knowledge. 

prakriti.     Nature. 

prdna.    Life. 


INDEX  OF  SANSCRIT  TERMS    205 

pratisya.    Reflection. 

purusha.     Soul  or  spirit. 

Raja.     Energy. 

Rama.     The  hero  of  Ramayana,  advent  of  God. 

Rdmdnuja.  Bom  1016  or  1017;  composed  Vedantadipa, 
Bhasya  on  the  Brahma  Sutras,  and  on  the  Bhagavadgita ; 
founder  of  the  Srisampradaya. 

Rasa.  The  joy  which  is  the  life  of  poetry;  the  ecstasy  due 
to  the  meditation  on  God. 

Rig  Veda.  The  Scripture  of  the  Hindus.  It  is  regarded  as 
revealed. 

Rishi.  Lit.  "a  seer."  The  word  now  means  a  philosopher, 
saint,  social  legislator,  and  religious  reformer. 

Rita.     Truth,  moral  law. 

Rupa.  The  element  of  form,  including  attributes  in  our  con- 
ception, and  physical  qualities  in  our  perception. 

Sabda.  The  phonetic  aspect  of  word.  This  term  is  often 
used  to  express  the  psychic  and  metaphysical  significance 
of  the  words  of  the  Vedas.  In  this  sense  Vedic  words  have 
creative  potency  inherent  in  them. 

Sddhana.  Perseverance.  This  word  refers  to  the  activity  of  in- 
telligence and  will  to  realise  the  highest  end  of  human  life. 

Sagara.  An  ancient  king  of  whom  many  legends  are  narrated 
in  the  Puranas. 

Saiva.  A  follower  of  the  religion  of  Siva.  Saiva  is  an  adjectival 
form  of  Siva. 

Sdkshi  Svarupa.  Intuition-in-itself.  The  soul,  being  of  the 
nature  of  a  witness,  i.e.  pure,  cognitive  faculty,  is  regarded 
as  a  substance,  identical  with  its  function,  or  attribute. 

Sdkshin.  The  soul.  God,  as  an  Impersonal  Being,  cannot 
be  distinguished  from  the  soul  of  man.  This  unitary 
substance  in  which  the  Impersonal  is  inseparable  from 
the  Personal  has  only  one  mark,  technically  called  "the 
witnessing  intellect." 

Sakti  dtman.  The  power  aspect  of  the  soul;  hence  it  refers 
to  the  will  side  of  the  soul. 

Samddhi.  In  the  philosophy  of  Yoga,  Samddhi  stands  for 
that  state  of  mind  in  which  the  soul  is  infilled  with 
Divine  Light,  and  the  Yogi  feels  himself  above  time  and 
space. 

Soma  Veda.  The  texts  of  the  Sama  Veda,  with  the  exception 
of  only  75  stanzas,  are  taken  entirely  from  the  Rig  Veda. 


206  BRAHMADARSANAM 

Samkarsana.     See  Pancardtra. 

Sdmkhya.    The  system  of  philosophy  founded  by  Kapila. 

Sampraiijnata  Samddhi.  See  Samddhi.  Sampratijndta  is  one 
kind  of  Samadhi,  in  which  the  Yogi,  along  with  his 
own  individuality,  is  aware  of  the  Divine  as  a  distinct 
Personality. 

Samsdra.  Refers  to  everything  that  happens  in  this  world. 
Its  special  meaning  is  rebirth,  i.e.  pre-existence  and 
post-existence  of  the  soul,  the  soul's  elevation  to  a  higher 
or  degradation  to  a  lower  state  of  embodied  existence 
being  the  result  of  the  individual's  own  conduct.  The 
Hindu  uses  the  word  Samsdra  to  express  the  same 
mental  mood  as  the  Englishman  when  he  says  "Such  is 
life"  or  "It  is  the  way  of  the  world,"  only  the  Hindu  uses 
Samsdra  in  a  more  comprehensive  sense,  which  includes 
the  idea  of  "Providence." 

Samskdra.  Memory  impressions.  In  Hindu  thought, 
memory  is  not  passive,  but  each  memory  impression  is 
creative  and  formative.  Thus  memory  is  deeper  than 
intelligence  or  will. 

Samvit.  The  Impersonal  Consciousness  standing  at  the  back 
of  our  empirical  consciousness.  Perhaps  the  nearest  ex- 
pression is  the  "subliminal  consciousness"  of  Myers,  or 
the  "intuition"  of  Bergson.  It  also  refers  to  the  contempla- 
tive attitude  of  mind  arising  out  of  philosophical  indifference 
to  the  things  of  sense. 

Sankara.  The  greatest  name  in  the  history  of  Vedanta 
philosophy.  Sankara  wrote  commentaries  on  the 
Upanishads  and  the  Brahma  Sutras,  and  founded  the 
Advaita  method  of  interpretation.  The  exact  date  of 
his  birth  is  not  known,  but  he  is  supposed  to  have  been 
bom  about  787  or  789  a.d.  in  the  village  of  K&lapi,  in 
the  district  of  Kerala  in  South  India,  and  to  have  died 
in  Kanchi.  One  writer  says:  "What  shall  we  say  then 
of  the  Master  Sankara?  Is  not  he  the  guardian  of  the 
sacred  waters  whom  by  his  commentaries  has  hemmed 
about,  against  all  impurities  and  Time's  jealousy,  first 
the  mountain  tarns  of  the  Upanishads,  then  the  serene 
forest  lake  of  the  Bhagavad  Gita,  and  lastly  the  deep  reservoir 
of  the  Sutras,  adding  from  the  generous  riches  of  his  wisdom 
lovely  fountains  and  lakelets  of  his  own,  the  Crest-Jewel, 
the  Awakening,  the  Discernment?" 


INDEX  OF  SANSCRIT  TERMS     207 

Sannydsa.  Renunciation  of  the  world  for  the  development  of 
Spirit,  knowledge,  and  higher  wisdom. 

Sannydsin.  One  who  renounces.  A  Sannyasin  is  not  a 
monk,  as  is  generally  supposed  here  in  Europe,  he  is  a 
philosopher  and  a  saint,  helping  the  people  to  wake  up 
in  the  spirit.  The  Sannyasins  do  not  belong  to  any  "closed 
organisation,"  but  are  world-teachers  who  wander  freely  over 
the  whole  earth,  spreading  light  and  love. 

Sdslra.  The  Vedas,  the  Smritis,  and  the  Furanas  come  under 
the  term  Sdstra;  the  word  means  lit.  "that  which  teaches 
the  ruling  or  master  principles  of  everything  concerning 
man  as  an  individual  and  as  a  social  being." 

Sat.  Existence ;  the  eternal,  unchangeable  substance  or  principle 
upon  which  the  Universe  is  supposed  to  rest. 

Sattva.  The  quality  of  existence.  Its  special  meaning  ia  that 
quality  which  is  the  most  fundamental  in  a  thing,  e.g.  in 
mind,  intelligence  is  the  most  fundamental  quality. 

Satyam  sivam  sundaram.  The  true,  the  good,  and  the  beautiful — 
qualities  belonging  to  God. 

Shaichakra.    The  six  centres. 

Siddhi.  Success.  Its  special  meaning  is  success  in  the 
attainment  of  yoga  and  occult  powers,  which  are  six  in 
number. 

Siva.  Lit.  "the  good."  The  Cosmos  reveals  to  us  the  fact 
that  good  and  evil  are  two  aspects  of  one  process  tending 
to  the  evolution  of  worlds  and  solar  systems.  This 
destructive-constructive  principle  is  symbolically  repre- 
sented as  Siva  —  the  God  bringing  good  out  of  evil,  creation 
out  of  destruction. 

Sri.  Lit.  "beautiful."  Symbolically  the  deity  of  good  luck  and 
prosperity.  Ordinarily  used  as  a  title  or  form  of 
address. 

Sthtda  and  Sthidabhuta.    "Gross"  and  "gross  elements." 

Stidras.  The  labourer,  or  the  fourth  class  in  the  Hindu 
social  organisation.  The  word  Sudra  is  supposed  to  be 
derived  from  a  root  meaning  "sorrow,"  "misery."  Cf. 
the  Greek  work  for  "wickedness"  (irovripla)  signifying 
"labour"  (ir6vos).  Designations  of  moral  value  were 
first  applied  to  men,  and  at  a  much  later  period  of  social 
life  to  actions.  Cf.  Arya  =  noble,  iyaOis  =  good»  while 
KaK6i  =  bad. 

Suksma.    "Subtile"  or  "fine." 


l^ 


208  BHAHMADARSANAM 

Surya.    Sun ;  also  supposed  to  be  the  name  of  a  Rishi. 

suawpti.     Dreamless  sleep. 

Sutra.    Condensed  sentences.     Sanscrit  philosophical  works  are 

mostly  written  in  aphoristic  style. 
Svadesa.     One's  native  land. 
Svadharmdkarana.       Following      one's      own      natural      bent; 

practising    the    religious    and    moral    precepts    innate    in 

universal  human  nature. 
Svdmin.     Lord.    Generally  a  title  of  address  towards  holy  persons. 
Taitiriya  Upanishad.     One  of  the  Upanishads. 
Tamos.     Darkness.     Also  used  in  the  sense  of  the  indeterminate, 

primal  substance  of  the  universe;    one  of  the  three  gunaa, 

characterised  by  idleness  or  inertia. 
tanmdtra.    The  super-subtile  basis  of  gross  elements  —  a  term 

first  used  in  Kapila's  philosophy. 
tapasya.     Penance.     The  word  signifies  that   state  of   the   will 

in  which  it  bears  all   the  disturbances  produced   by  the 

heat    of    our    psycho-physical    organism    and    the    outer 

world    without    complaint  —  hence    steadfastness    in    the 

pursuit  of  a  moral  or  spiritual  idea. 
tattva.     Principle. 
tirthdnkara.    A  Jaina  saint.    The  present  age  has  24  tirthan- 

karas.     For  fuller  particulars  see  Dr.  Burgess's  Appendix 

to  Btthler's  Indian  Sect  of  the  Jainas. 
turiya.    The  transcendental  state  of  mind  —  a  state  of  entire 

freedom  and  perfect  glory. 
Upddhi.     Condition;    the  supposition  or  super-imposition  of  a 

form  of  belief,  mainly  unreal,  upon  a  substance  nominally 

real,  as  in  the  psychology  of  illusion. 
Upakosala.     A  person  mentioned  in  the  Upanishads. 
Upanishad.     Lit.    "science   of   self-realisation."     Refers   to  the 

philosophical  portions  of  the  Veda. 
Updsdna.    That  mental  state  of  prayer  in  which  man  feels  himself 

nearer  to  God. 
upastambha.    Transformation  of  energy. 
Vairdgya.    Non-attachment  to  pleasure;    that  state  of  mind 

in  which  no  external  object,  however  attractive,  can  fascinate 

the  mind. 
Vaishesika.    The  system  of  philosophy  founded  by  Kan&da. 
Vaishnava.    Follower  of  Vishnu. 
Varna.    Colour,  also  class,  in  the  sense  of  social  division,  according 

to  division  of  labour. 


INDEX  OF  SANSCRIT  TERMS    209 

Vdsudeva.    Another  name  of  Krishna. 

Veda.    Refers  to  the  four  Vedas. 

Veddnta.  Refers  to  the  philosophical  portion  of  the  Vedas  — 
called  the  Upanishads  —  as  well  as  to  the  Brahma  Sutras 
and  the  Gita. 

Vibhava.  Divine  emanation  in  the  form  of  advents  or  incarna- 
tions.    See  Pancardtra. 

Videsa.    Foreign  land. 

Vidyd.    Science  or  systematic  knowledge. 

vija-dtman.  The  central  self  which,  like  a  seed,  gives  rise  to 
the  empirical  life. 

Vijndna  Bhiksu.  A  great  expositor  of  Dualism.  He  wrote 
considerably  on  Samkhya  and  Yoga  philosophy.  His 
interpretation  of  Kapila's  cosmology  is  considered  as 
authoritative. 

Vikdra.  Deviation  from  what  a  thing  is  in  its  original,  normal 
state.  Vikara  corresponds  to  Spinoza's  "mode"  and 
Hegel's  "becoming." 

Vikurvdna.  The  process  of  mass-disintegration  and  emana- 
tion. 

Virdj.  The  Impersonal,  in  its  aspect  of  cosmic  intellect, 
guiding  the  material  universe  is  called  Vaisvanara  or 
Virdj. 

Visetha.     Species  under  a  genus. 

Vishnu.    Personal  God. 

Visishtddvaita.    The  philosophy  of  qualified  Monism. 

Visishtddvaitin.    A  follower  of  the  School  of  qualified  Monism. 

Visvadeva.    God  as  Universal  Spirit. 

Visva-Karman.     God  as  maker  of  the  Universe. 

Viveka.    True  insight  into  the  nature  of  soul. 

Vydsa.  The  celebrated  author  of  the  Mahabharata  and  the 
Bhagavata.  His  name  is  Krishna  Daipayan  Vedaviyasa. 
He  classified  the  Vedas  in  the  form  we  see  them  now. 

VyHha.  The  manifestation  of  God  as  Vasudeva,  Samkarasana, 
Pradyumna  and  Aniruddha. 

Yajnavcdkya.  The  name  of  a  Rishi  mentioned  in  the  Upani- 
shads. His  luminous  discourse  on  the  Self  and  Im- 
mortality is  to  be  found  in  the  Chhandogya  and  Brihata- 
ranyaka  Upanishads. 

Yajur  Veda.    One  of  the  four  Vedas. 

Yati.  One  who  has  renounced  worldly  life  in  favour  of  godly 
life. 


210  BRAHMADARSANAM 

Yoga.  Communion  of  the  individual  with  the  Universal  Spirit 
through  prayer,  love,  self-surrender,  and  knowledge. 

Yoganidra.  A  kind  of  trance  in  which  soul  knowledge  is 
obtained  through  the  suppression  of  the  physiological 
functions. 

Yogin.    An  adept  in  the  art  and  science  of  self-conquest. 


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I.    Historical  Outline  of  the  Period. 
II.    Movements  Favoring  Serious  Reform,  1828-1913. 
III.     Reform  Checked  by  Defence  of  the  Old  Faiths,  1870- 1913. 
IV.    Full  Defence  of  the  Old  Religions,  1870-1913. 
V.    Religious  Nationalism,  1895-1913. 
VI.    Social  Reform  and  Service,  1828-1913. 
VII.    Significance  of  the  Movements. 
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Glossary  of  Indian  Terms. 
Index. 


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